Gaming Hearts
by thedudeabies
Summary: Written by Hewhoimagines and NK and idea by thedudeabies. Sora is an ordinary boy who get's rap up in an adventure to save many worlds.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

As he slowly opened his eyes, white birds flew past him, and vanished within the haze at that exact moment.

It felt as if the boy was drowning, and then fell into the underworld… at least, that's what he considered it. It all started with he and his friends, swept away by the waves of the ocean, unable to reach out to them, no matter how hard he tried.

Riku…

Kairi…

Where were they?

Before his feet, was a stained glass window, containing an image of a small girl in a red dress, having blonde hair, tied in a ponytail. Surrounding her were several armored characters, almost appearing to be robotic.

"Do not be afraid," a soft voice spoke to the boy, like a whisper, "step forward."

What was going on? Who was talking to him? The boy did what he was told, even with all of the things on his mind, he found that it would be pointless to shout. The sooner this got done, the sooner he would find his friends. As he stepped over, pedestals began rising from the glass.

A magical staff of some kind, a wooden shield with a cross on it, and a massive sword.

"Choose well, your destiny depends on it."

The choice seemed a tad difficult. A staff with magic powers, would be great for ranged combat, but it would be bad if any potential threats had gotten close.

A shield was good for defensive mechanisms, and perhaps bashing someone over the head, but it wasn't the boy's style of fighting at all.

That sword… seemed large, almost impossible to wield. But yet, for some reason, the boy was drawn to it. He found its shape to be familiar. Before long, the boy drew closer towards it, just to get a closer look.

That closer look wasn't good enough though, as the boy placed his hands on the blade, lifting it off the pedestal carefully, just to examine every detail. He didn't even notice the floor beneath him started to shatter, reacting to what he had just done.

Did he make the wrong choice? He kept worrying in panicked rush, wanting to scream as he fell below, but not a single peep came out of him.

This was it, wasn't it? He would die, curiosity had killed the cat… Wait, no. There was a glimmer down below. Another stained glass window? There was no way the boy could make a gentle landing on that, it would break the moment he made impact with it!

Something— or someone, held onto him.

"The power to fight," the voice whispered to him, much closer than before. The boy could have sworn this was a woman, but it was far too hushed to tell. "Your spirit, is that of a warrior. A balanced heart, that will protect himself." Upon being landed so carefully, without making a sound, the boy tried to turn around, to see who had saved him, but they were already gone. "Once you have made this deal," the voice echoed, "you cannot turn back on it, your soul is bound to this fate. It will be constantly in danger by creatures without a heart."

He did not understand, and simply stared at the image depicted on the stained glass. This time, it was of a girl wearing a pink dress, also having blonde hair, and braided sideburns. Her image was surrounded by doves, although, dark creatures were crawling around it.

One slid across the glass, going behind the boy, then taking form. "Be wary of any ambushes," the voice whispered. Out of pure reflex, the boy sword the giant sword at the black creature, having antennae and bright yellow eyes. Without even looking at it, the boy had slain the creature, returning to the floor as a dark puddle.

The other creatures merged with the puddle, a giant hand stretched out, grabbing onto the boy and pulling him down. "Do not let the darkness take over, should you allow such a thing, you will be like those with no heart." The voice echoed, even when the boy felt as if he was drowning again. But that feeling soon stopped, he remained brave, knowing that surely, there would be another window for him.

And he was correct. Down below, was one last stained glass, depicting a feline creature, having purple fur, surrounded by flames and colored stones. The boy stepped forward, unsure what to expect next. The only thing he could predict, was that disembodied voice to speak again.

"The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow will become."

There was a hefty emphasis on that last part, made more unnerving when the boy felt a shadow casted on him. His body trembled, seeing what appeared to be a humanoid monster, having six wings that glowed in the dark, its gaze burning right through him.

"Do not fear me… you have the mightiest weapon…"

The voice was coming from the beast, and the boy soon saw the black creatures crawling all over him, appearing from the shadow that was casted over him.

"You will be the one… to open the door… and when the time comes, we shall meet."

The boy didn't understand. Had they not met just now? Who was speaking? What was happening to him?

What happened to Riku and Kairi…?

_

"Sora?"

He gasped upon hearing his name called out, relieved it was only a dream. The boy looked up, seeing the blue sky and sunlight, beaming down on him.

The voice calling out to him just now, came from a young girl with short red hair, peering over her sleepy friend. "You lazy bum, Sora! I had a feeling you would be snoozing down here."

"W-wait, no, this black creatures swallowed me up, and there was some kind of winged monster, and I couldn't breathe and— ow!"

Lightly bonking him on the head, the girl laughed. "Are you still dreaming? I'll wake you up if I have to."

"No, it wasn't… at least, I don't think it was. Was it?" The boy, Sora, began wondering aloud, uncertain of what had just happened. "I guess I don't know. It felt… so real. What was that place? It was bizarre." Getting up, the boy dusted off his blue pants and red shirt, brushing the sand off his brown shoes. He rubbed his head, fingers running through his spiky, brown hair.

"Yeah, sure." The girl began wandering over to the shore, smiling. Perhaps now, it was best to change the subject, and forget that horrible nightmare happened. To get it off of Sora's mind, he figured it was best to ask questions about something else.

"Say," Sora spoke, "Kairi, what was your hometown like? Where you grew up?"  
"I told you already," the girl, Kairi replied, "I don't remember."  
"Nothing at all?"  
"Nope."  
"Do you ever wanna go back?"  
"I dunno, I'm happy here… but I guess I wouldn't mind going to see it."  
"I want to see all the lands out there in the world," Sora declared, "and explore every one of them!

"Uh, hey, you guys forgetting about me?" A young man with silver hair approached the two, carrying a large piece of wood. "Sheesh, I must be the only one working on the raft." He then tossed the wood to Sora, who didn't have the time to react for a moment. "Kairi, you're just as lazy as him, c'mon."

She couldn't help but giggle. "Alright Riku, you caught me. We'll all finish it together." Kairi then got into position, preparing to make a run for it. "But first, I'll race you! Ready, go!"

"What?" Sora questioned.  
"Are you serious right now Kairi?" Riku groaned, watching the red-haired girl run past the underside of a wooden bridge. Before long, Riku and Sora followed after her, not wanting to lose.

It was just another day on the Destiny Islands it seemed.

—

Later that day, when the sun was setting, the three of them were resting by the tree. The raft was nearly done, and they couldn't wait to set out, more so than others.

"What do you think we'll find? What world will we go to? And why did we end up in this one?" Riku's questions filled most of the conversation, Kairi taking a bit of interest while Sora's reactions were a bit more casual. Kairi decided to counter with a question of her own. "When we get to a world, what will you do?"  
"I don't know, I haven't really thought that far ahead."  
"Really?"  
"Most of my thinking has been about what's out there. What more can be found and why did we

"Yeah. If you never came here, I wouldn't be thinking these things. So thanks."  
"You're welcome."

Kairi started to head back home, with Sora behind her. He was stopped by Riku calling out to him.

"Here." A fruit was tossed to Sora.  
"A paopu fruit?"  
"It's said that when two people share it, their destinies will be intertwined. They will always be a part of each other's lives, no matter what. Come on, I know you want to try it."  
"Wha-what?!" Sora tossed the fruit away in embarrassment, and chased after Riku.

_

"Good morning bro!"

Hopping out of the bed, still in his pajamas, Luigi looked over to his brother's room. Bed was untidy, meaning Mario must have gotten up. Usually Luigi was the early bird, but it seemed that Mario had gotten ahead of him for once, yet forgot to make his bed. Pulling the covers back neatly and fluffing the pillows, Luigi made his way downstairs, and to the kitchen.

"Hey, bro, I know you wanted to stop sleeping in, but you forgot to make your bed," Luigi said, "don't-a worry, I made it for you. Just remember next time, alrighty?"

At that moment, Luigi realized he was talking to no one. The kitchen was empty, although breakfast was left there for brother in green, there wasn't a soul in there besides Luigi himself. He figured Mario was just getting the mail, or he had to deal with something urgent at the Princess's castle. No biggie, it wouldn't have been the first time Luigi didn't get involved, and he didn't mind that. Shrugging it off, Luigi sat down, and pulled over the toasted bagel that had been left for him.

Underneath the plate, was a note. As Luigi munched down on bagel, he began reading it over. Gulping down part of his breakfast, his eyes widened, and he nearly dropped what he was eating. "Oh no," Luigi stammered, completely disregarding what he was doing, and getting out of his chair. "I need to inform the princess! If Mario isn't around, then…!" Pocketing the note, Luigi started running out the door, leaving his breakfast behind.

_

By the time Luigi had arrived at Peach's Castle, he saw Princess Daisy standing before him. "Luigi!" Daisy chirped, Peach, Yoshi, Toadsworth, and Toad standing behind her. "I mean, it took you long enough! You and Mario are late!" Her attitude quickly changed, while Luigi remained concerned. "Where is your brother anyway? We were supposed to have an early morning tennis match, to get warmed up!"

Holding up a tennis racket, Daisy huffed, not noticing how worried Luigi looked. "That's-a just it though," Luigi spoke, "Mario left, with this note being the only clue I have, so I thought one of you could understand what this meant." Taking the note out of his pocket, Luigi handed it over to the group.

"I haven't seen Mario all day," Toad said, "what about you, Yoshi?"  
"Uh uh!"  
"Why, I haven't seen the old bean either!" Toadsworth replied.

Taking the note, Princess Peach glanced over to Daisy. "We can hold off the tennis match for now, Daisy." She said, ready to go back inside of her castle instead. "For now, let's go inside, have some tea, and try to figure what this is exactly about." Daisy pouted slightly, but gave in, tossing the tennis racket aside and following her friend. Luigi, Yoshi, Toadsworth, and Toad did the same.

Sora's curiosity got the better of him. One of his friends told him that a strange door appeared in the Secret Place, a small cave hidden by leaves and ivy. He saw the door, but couldn't open it. While thinking, he got distracted for a brief moment by a carving. The wall was filled with pictures and carvings that were made by the kids over the years, and his attention was grabbed by a certain one. His memories flashed back to when he was little. He and Kairi were carving something on the wall side by side. When they were done, they turned to see that they drew each other.

Sora added a bit more to the drawing now, adding an arm to himself, giving a paopu fruit to Kairi. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he sense another presence. "Who's there?" He turned to see a cloaked man behind him. "This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed."  
"I don't know what you're talking about, but don't freak me out like this…...wait….where did you come from?"  
"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."  
"So you're from another world!" Sora got a bit excited at the realization.  
"There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."  
"Yeah? Well, you'll see. I'm going to learn what's out there!"  
"A meaningless effort. One who understands nothing can learn nothing."  
Sora, getting annoyed at his words, turn to the door, wondering what was behind it, before turning back to see that the cloaked man disappeared.

What just happened would have to wait, as there was still more to be done for the raft. Sora was resting up with Kairi on the dock. She was finishing up a charm she was making when she spoke.  
"You know, Riku has changed."  
"How?"  
"Never mind…..hey Sora, just take the raft and go now, just the two of us!"  
"What?!"  
"Just kidding."  
"You're the one who's changed, Kairi."  
"Maybe…..truth is, I was a little afraid. But I know no matter what happens, I can always come back here, right?"  
"Right."  
"Thanks. Sora, don't ever change."  
"Huh?"  
"I can't wait until we set sail. It'll be great."

_

"Dear bro,

Sorry I have to run out like this suddenly, but make sure this message gets to the Princess, Yoshi, and everyone else, okay?

Stars in the galaxy are disappearing, to put it lightly, and Rosalina said it wasn't anyone that we know of. Bowser, Wart, King Boo— none of them are responsible for it, before you go bothering them. I gotta check this out on my own, and I need you to find someone who has the 'key' to all of this, Luigi.

Bring a friend, and find the one who holds it, or else this universe could be in grave danger if that 'key' falls into the wrong hands! There's someone in a place known as Traverse Town, named Cloud. If you find him, he'll point you in the right direction. Ask Rosalina for help too, if you need it.

P.S.  
Don't rush out the door after reading, and forget to eat breakfast! You need the energy!"

After reading that, Peach heard someone's stomach growling, and quickly realized it was Luigi. "Oh, Luigi, didn't you read that last part?" Peach asked, "You should have taken your time, I know you probably thought this was urgent, but you shouldn't have skipped your breakfast."

"S-sorry," Luigi stuttered, "I got worried."

"Hey, considering your brother's sudden disappearance, no one can blame you." Toad replied, trying to cheer him up.

"Soooo, about this little quest you'll be on, Luigi," Daisy wondered, "who are you going to bring with you?"

The hopeful glimmer in her eyes would tell anyone that Daisy wanted to come, but Luigi was always a bit dense when it came to catching on to her implications. Especially since it took him years to figure out that she had a crush on him. "Toad, would you be alright with joining me?" Luigi asked, while Daisy threw down her arms in defeat. "Mario said I should bring a friend along, and you've helped me a lot in the past. Such as when we fought Wart, and a couple of times recently against Bowser, I feel like you would keep an eye out for me."

Toad nodded in agreement, but then, Luigi noticed something moving around in the castle. "What's that over there?" He asked, pointing at a cardboard box that was shifting around, trying to be unnoticed. Daisy rolled her eyes, and with little hesitation, flipped it over, revealing a man underneath.

"Crud, my cover is blown," he grunted.  
"Wah!" Luigi exclaimed, "W-who is this!?"  
"Well," Peach replied, "he actually has been here for a while, Luigi… Allow me to explain."

—

"So… you and some of your friends just kind of scattered all of the sudden?" Luigi asked the man, his name revealed to be Solid Snake.

"I'm the only one who made it here. I've gotten in contact with Otacon, who is somewhere else out there, but I haven't heard from anyone else." Snake explained, leading Luigi, Yoshi, and Toad down a flight of stairs. Princess Peach always had all sorts of secret compartments and passages in her castle, so it wasn't really any surprise that she had a hidden basement.

"Otacon?" Toad asked, looking up at the taller man.

"An ally who aids me frequently. Not important right now," Snake continued, "what you two should be focusing on, are the demands of that note. And Princess Peach suggested I help you out… Listen, when reaching certain places, you're going to need disguises. That box was the only thing I had, but in your case, it's going to be different."

"Wait," Toad said, digging through a trunk of equipment, sliding a pair of bracers on his hands. "So you're saying while we help search for this 'key' and all, we gotta get new costumes too? Why's that?" He wondered, taking out a shield that was shaped like a mushroom cap.

"Because, you can't let people know where you're from." Snake grunted. It was hard to go over every single detail without causing some kind of paradox. "Look, let me keep it simple, since clearly the Princess didn't make it clear enough. We gotta protect the world's order, according to Otacon. Otherwise, you're going to end up like me, and those two weirdos over there."

Gesturing over to a tiger-striped feline-like creature and a small robot, Luigi and Toad jumped back out of reflex, surprised to see such unusual characters. There was an awkward pause, until the feline creature cleared his throat. He wanted to try to start the conversation, but wasn't having any luck on where to begin. "We lost our ship, and now we're stuck with this piece of junk— no offense to her royal highness— hope you don't mind sharing some space with Clank and I."

Everyone directed their attention to a blocky starfighter of some kind, which appeared to be rather small. "Who knew that Princess Peach was hiding a space shuttle?" Luigi muttered to himself, following Snake and the two foreigners into the starfighter.

—

It was admittedly, rather cramped in the custom starfighter. Yoshi and Snake were curled up in the back. Neither Luigi or Toad had any idea how to pilot this thing, so it was up to to this feline creature and his robotic companion to bring them all to their destination. "Alright, let's get outta this place! Where we headed?"

"Traverse Town." Snake responded, as the starfighter's engines engaged. A hatch in the castle walls opened up, revealing a ramp of some kind. The starfighter started, and began speeding away, flying off the ramp, and then flying into the sky. Luigi started to panic a little, when he saw that they were all leaving their planet.

"J-just what is-a going on!?" Luigi stammered. "Isn't Traverse Town somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom!?"

"Afraid not, green guy." Snake replied. "Otacon told me that this is a place a bit more out there."

—

Dusk came, and Sora looked up at the boat decoration hanging in his room. Speaking of which, he really should have cleaned the place before setting sail, just so his mother would have less work to do. Yet, he didn't have the motivation to do that. Sora couldn't stop thinking about what Kairi had said before.

"I can't wait until we set sail. It'll be great."

Some of the events today actually bothered him a little. The strange character he encountered in the Secret Place, what Kairi had said today, and that dream. Even though it was a dream, it still bothered him. Could it have been connected to that person he saw in the cave?… No, it was probably just some weirdo.

With a sigh, Sora looked out the window. Dark clouds in the night sky… a bolt of lightning? He could have sworn, he saw that just now. His suspicions were confirmed when he started hearing thunder. "A storm?" He murmured to himself, before snapping into a moment of realization. "Oh no, the raft!" Sora jumped out of bed, cracking open his bedroom window. He couldn't hesitate, he had to act now, or else the whole thing would have been ruined.

Just a minute after he jumped out of the window though, there was a knock at his door. "Sora," his mother called, "dinner's ready, come on down!" No response came to her. "Sora? Don't make me come in there!" After a couple of seconds, she opened the door, examining the room, and seeing the open window.

Her son had gone out there, and in this weather, there was no way to find him.

—

Hurrying to the docks, as fast as he could, Sora gasped as he looked at the chaos around him. A dark vortex of some sort was in the sky, one that made Sora feel uneasy. "What is that?" He wondered aloud, jumping over to the docks. He saw two boats, perfectly intact, belonging to Riku and Kairi. "Where are they?" He continued to ask himself, before hearing something behind him.

Riku and Kairi?

No, instead, black creature with antennae rose from the ground. The very same beasts he had seen in his dream. Sora was nearly petrified by the sight of his nightmares coming to life. He had no way of fighting them, so his only option was to run away. "Please," he said to himself once again, "wake me up, please tell me this is just another dream. This can't be real."

Whether this was reality or not, Sora had to find Kairi— or Riku— either of them, but preferably both in the same place.

Running with all his might, Sora rushed past the coastline when he saw Riku standing at the end of one of the docks. But to Sora's worry, Riku was alone. "Where's Kairi? Was she with you?"  
"The door has opened."  
"What?"  
"The door has opened. We can go to other worlds now!"  
"Who cares? We need to find Kairi!"  
"She's coming with us!" Sora was knocked back a bit at the outburst. "Once we go, there's no coming back. We might never see any of our friends or family again. But I won't let fear stop us. I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Riku stretched out his hand to Sora, waiting for him to take it. Before Sora could say anything, a portal appeared under them, darkness reaching out to grab them. Sora tried to move, but the darkness held him fast, making Riku's hand just out of reach. The last he saw before total darkness was Riku's smile through the tendrils.

Sora couldn't see anything. He was starting to panic when a bright light broke through. He was back where he was standing, but Riku was gone. And he was holding a strange key-shaped weapon. A single word echoed in his head. yblade…..Keyblade…"

One of the creatures jumped from behind, startling Sora. He swung the Keyblade in reflex and was astonished at the creature disappearing at its touch. Realizing he could now fight, he charged forward, looking for anything to tell him where his friends have gone.

Fighting his way through, he gradually went to the Secret Place, thinking the strange events from before might have a clue. His suspicions were confirmed by a fancy door suddenly being at the entrance. Making his way inside, he found Kairi, but she didn't look too good. Her face looked both weakened and worried. Before words could be said, the original door from earlier opened, unleashing a dark mist carried by an intense wind. Kairi was blown towards, but before he could catch her, she vanished from his grip, before he was blown away as well.

When he landed, he was shocked to see that only a small part of the beach was all that was left, the rest being sucked up into the vortex. The situation got worse with a huge creature appearing, with a heart-shaped hole in its chest. It seemed focused on Sora for some reason, attacking and sending smaller creatures after him. Sora fought with everything he had, proving difficult as the huge creature's only weak spots seemed to be its hands. Luckily, he was able to repel most shots, aiding him greatly.

Sora was able to finally defeat the creature, but was unable to save himself from getting sucked into the vortex. The sandy ground he was trying to grab was the last thing he saw before blacking out.

And that's the Prologue.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 1

Traversing Through Town

They landed on what seemed almost like another planet to Luigi, at least, that's what he thought. Upon exiting the ship, he looked at the town around him. Several signs, windows, and lamps were glowing with light. It made Luigi feel a bit more comfortable.

"We have arrived," the small robot spoke. "The First District of Traverse Town."  
"Listen, if you ever need another lift, just let us know, alright?" The feline creature said to them.  
"Thanks," Toad replied, "what's your name anyway? We never caught it."  
"Ratchet," the feline creature responded, "c'mon Clank. Let's try to search out some upgrades for this heap of blocks."

"L-look, up there!" Luigi exclaimed, grabbing everyone's attention as he pointed at the night sky.

They all looked up in astonishment, a constellation of stars were in the sky, and one began burning brightly. As soon as it shined though, it began to disappear, just like in Mario's letter. "A star went out!? Yikes!" Toad shouted, while Snake shook his head.

"Not good at all. I gotta make sure to report that… here, Luigi." Snake said, handing him a device. "Take this transceiver, you can communicate with me using the Codec system, let me know what happens. I'm going to try to find out where Otacon is, if I can, so I'm going to split for now. You try to find this Cloud person." Luigi nodded in response, as Snake noticed Yoshi wandering off without them. "By the way, I would consider putting a leash on that dinosaur."

"Huh?" Turning around, Luigi yelped, chasing after Yoshi as he shoved the transceiver in his pocket. "Yoshi! Wait for us!" He called out, Toad following him not too far behind.

Before long, Luigi and Toad had lost Yoshi in a panic to catch up with him. Then they were looking around every corner to find a trace of Yoshi, wondering where the dinosaur could have gone.

Fruits. There wasn't a thing that Yoshi and his kind loved more, especially melons. It just so happened that there was an empty fruit stand full of them, and he was able to track the scent with no trouble at all. There was no sign of the person running the stand, and Yoshi didn't seem to care much, as he began swallowing everything there was to offer.

While gorging the fruits down, Yoshi heard something— or more accurately, someone, groaning in pain. Pausing his feast, Yoshi look next to the fruit stand, seeing a young boy with spiky hair. He had a key of some kind in his right hand, which jogged Yoshi's memory quite a bit.

"I need you to find someone who has the 'key' to all of this…"

"Bwah!" Yoshi exclaimed, remembering what Peach read in the note. The boy awoke with a start, shocked to see the green, cartoonish dinosaur before him.

Unsure what to think of Yoshi, the boy just stared at him. "Uh, nice dinosaur… thing?" Yoshi simply blinked, knowing that if he said anything, the boy probably wouldn't be able to understand him. Backing away, Yoshi made a gesture as if he wanted the boy to stay put, then ran off.

This was all too confusing for Sora. He seriously thought he was dreaming again, until he pinched himself, confirming that it wasn't the case. There wasn't much that he could really do about this, except get up, investigate, and hope he could find a trace of Kairi and Riku. "Where am I even?" He said to himself, looking at the Keyblade in his hands.

Rather than going what the dinosaur suggested, Sora began to wander through town, just to get some answers as to what was going on.

"N-no, I need to… get back to my fruit stand." The man gasped, knocked onto the ground, his eyes widened in horror. He struggled to get up, watching as a light burst from his chest. Out of it, came a bright pink, glowing heart. Not a human heart, like an organ, but more like something that had the shape of a heart.

It drifted away to a small void of darkness, the man couldn't scream even if he tried, watching what happened as his whole body started to vanish. The heart began morphing with the darkness, turning into a humanoid shape. A black creature was formed, much like the ones with antennae, but instead wore armor, and had an emblem on its chest. The emblem looked like a heart, but covered with stitches.

Sora entered the Second District of Traverse Town as he was walking about, just as the creature vanished out of sight. "Huh?" Sora mumbled, looking around. "What's going on here?" As he took a step forward, there was the sound of something familiar. It sounded like crawling, or squirming around.

More of those black creatures which he had seen back at home. This time though, Sora was prepared. He knew he could fight them off without much struggle, just a few swings of his Keyblade got rid of a whole bunch of them. Just as he thought they were done with though, more began spawning at his feet.

It was all too easy though, they tried to strike first, but Sora seemed to have better reflexes. "Do these things ever end?" He grumbled to himself, hoping that after one more round, they would go away. After he assumed he was finished, Sora went inside of a building, oblivious to what was going on as he left the Second District.

"Cloud?" Toad called out. "Say, uh, Luigi, do you know what that guy even looks like?"  
"Don't-a ask me, I have no clue!" The plumber in green replied.

Inside of the building, Sora looked around, and didn't know what to believe. First black creatures, a cartoonish dinosaur, now there were anthropomorphic animals sitting near a counter. "I just don't get it Fox, we beat those Aparoids, now all of the sudden, we find ourselves stuck in this galaxy? There isn't anyway for us to fly out of this heap?" The bird character with blue feathers complained, sitting back in his chair.

Amongst him were two foxes— one which had blue fur for some reason— an amphibian wearing a cap, an old rabbit, and some sort of robotic character made up of gold and silver colors metals. They seemed far too distracted with their conversation to notice Sora. "Look Falco, there's not much we can do right now. We lost the Great Fox against the Aparoids, we don't have our Arwings suddenly, and ROB64 can't pinpoint our exact location. I think we're just going to have to stay put until someone finds us." The fox said, which was followed up by more muttering from his friends.

Were they in a predicament similar to Sora? He wasn't sure whether to ask them about it or not. Sora had to worry about Riku and Kairi for now… though, maybe there wasn't any harm in asking them. Didn't they just mention they were from another galaxy, in some way?

"Say," Sora interrupted the group, managing to get their attention. "Have any of you, uh, seen two of my friends? Riku and Kairi?" He was give blank looks from all of them, making Sora a little bit nervous. "They're around my age, Riku is a guy with silver hair, always wears puffy pants… And Kairi is a girl with red hair—"

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've seen either of them." The blue vixen replied, feeling bad when Sora gave a disappointed look. "If it makes you feel better, we're in the same position as you are. We suddenly can't get back in contact with Slippy's father, our rivals, or anyone we know for that matter."

"Have you tried sensing if anyone like his friends were around?" The toad croaked.  
The vixen held her head, then sighed. "I'm picking up nothing, sorry."

Sensing? That was a strange ability. Did the blue fox have some kind of psychic ability? "Thanks either way, I'm going to keep looking for answers… if I can, I'll find something out for you guys also." Sora held his head up high as he said that, even if the chances were slim, and everything was so confusing, there was no reason to not try and push forward.

"Try asking some other people in town, they might know what happened." The old hare suggested to Sora, as the boy began to leave the building, and head into the First District.

"This is all too strange," he mumbled to himself, "a kid like him is wandering on his own, and in a situation like ours…?"

Just a few steps into the First District, Sora was hoping to find answers— not only for himself, but for those animal characters in the building— instead though, he got more questions, as someone started speaking to him.

"They'll come at you out of nowhere." A male voice said to him.  
"Wha… who's there?" Sora turned around, holding the Keyblade up just a bit.

Out of the shadows, stepped out a man. Blonde, spiky hair, wearing a red scarf around his face, and a spiky piece of armor on his left shoulder. "They'll keep coming, as long as you carry… that." The man pointed at Sora's Keyblade. "Why did it choose a child like you?" He wondered aloud. "It's dangerous, and…"

As his words trailed off, Sora couldn't help but feel insulted. "What's that supposed to mean!?" He snapped, before taking a moment to look at the man. Something about this guy was all too familiar, not helped by the giant blade he was lugging around, covered in bandages. "Wait a second… have we met before?" The man stared back at Sora, seeming curious. "And that sword, I've definitely seen it somewhere!"

Thinking it over, the man couldn't help but also find this familiar. He merely shrugged it off though. "Maybe in another life or timeline, we've crossed paths somehow. Not that it really matters… I need to see that Keyblade." As he stepped over, Sora could only back away from him, holding the Keyblade up in a defensive position.

"No way are you getting this! How am I going to defend myself!?" Sora exclaimed.  
"I just wanna take a look at it, but… alright." Pulling the giant sword off of his back, Sora got a better look at it.

This man… who was he? Moreover, the sword he had…

He remembered now. Sora remembered, he had it in his hands once. Every detail on it, was like the blade he held in his dreams. The one he used to slay those creatures with.

"That's—!"

Before he could finish his thoughts out loud, the man struck him with the large weapon over the head, Sora gasped in pain, and staggered back. That thing definitely stung, even if it seemed like the man was holding back. It didn't help that he hit Sora's head with the flat side of the sword, so it felt like getting hit by a giant, steel board.

He couldn't even stagger to get up, or put up a fight. Instead, Sora fell backwards and was knocked out cold. The man looked shocked at what he had just done. "Oh shoot," he murmured, looking at Sora's unconscious body. Carefully, the man checked to see if his pulse, thankfully, Sora still had blood pumping.

The sound of clanging approached the man. He turned around, seeing a character wearing armor, a skull-like mask covering their face. "It's not that bad, I tried to go easy on him." The man stated. The armored one shook his head, and the man stepped away from the body.

"Things are much worse than I imagined." The armored character spoke in a strange, deep voice, sounding almost a tad robotic. He examined the Keyblade in Sora's hands, taking note of the small chain on its handle, which had a red "M" attached to the end. Lifting Sora off the ground, the armored character carried him away to the hotel, the man accompanying him.

Cold, and wet… this wasn't the island, where was he now? What came over him?

Riku began to open his eyes finally, feeling a bit sore. He grumbled to himself, but the sounds of water were overriding his voice, ringing in his head more than anything else. He could barely remember what had happened, or how he got in such a place.

Sora… and Kairi… where were they?

"Sora!" Riku called out, hoping his voice would be heard. "Kairi!" He kept shouting their names until his throat became sore, over and over, hoping he would find them. There was no response though. It was cold, and icy, and he almost didn't feel like moving. One wrong step, and he would have fallen into the freezing waters.

It wasn't that he was afraid, but he felt so empty right now. Lost in his thoughts, his worries, Riku didn't notice that a man in a black cloak was watching him…

_

"Geez, it's kinda spooky here, isn't it?" Toad said, still wandering through Traverse Town with Luigi. "There's been no sign of Yoshi, or this Cloud guy! At this rate, we're more likely to run into a Boo instead!"

"D-don't-a say that Toad, y-you know I hate ghosts." Luigi stammered, shaking in his overalls. "M-maybe we should wait until morning, and stay a hotel for the night." The suggestion wasn't a bad one, since Toad was getting a little tired of this too.

"Yeah, you're probably right—"

"Hey," A girl's voice called out them, making Luigi nearly jump out of his shoes. "Sorry to spook you, but… did a man with a mustache and a red cap send you?"

The both of them turned around, seeing a woman with long, brown hair. She wore a black leather tank top and skirt, as well as earrings shaped like a teardrop. "Come on," she said, gesturing towards the Second District. "I'll check you into the hotel here, and give you a briefing, alright?"

Sora groaned, holding his head where it was hit, and looked off to the side. He was still dazed, thinking he heard a familiar voice. "You okay?" It sounded like Riku, and he sort of began seeing him too.

"Y-yeah… I guess."  
"Those creatures that attacked you," he spoke, "they are after the Keyblade… but it's actually your heart that they want, due to the weapon you wield."  
Sora sighed in relief, sounding tired. "I'm glad you're okay at least, Riku… where's Kairi?"

"… Riku?… I am leader of the Manji Party, Yoshimitsu!" Sora began blinking his eyes, opening and closing them repeatedly. He realized that this wasn't Riku speaking to him, for the voice sounded far too strange. Upon snapping out of it, Sora saw the menacing, armored character before him. "Cloud, you really overdid it. I know you didn't mean to, but he's just a boy—"

"AHH!" Sora yelled, backing up into a wall, panic-stricken. Yoshimitsu winced at his reaction, starting to feel bad, while the man with spiky hair couldn't help but snicker. "W-where's that Keyblade thing!?" Sora exclaimed, looking around for it so he could defend himself. "W-whatever you do, don't eat me, or whatever it is you plan on! I may not have my Keyblade… but I'm not afraid to—"

"H-hold on, slow down." Yoshimitsu held up his hands, trying to show that he meant no harm. "I know I appear to be menacing, but I had no intention of harming you. As for your weapon, we had to get it away from you to shake off those beasts. That is how they were tracking you." He explained, trying to calm Sora down.

It worked a little bit, but Sora still seemed worried, mainly due to the presence of the man with spiky hair. "And you said I overdid it? Geez… Anyway, this was the only way to conceal your heart from them. I don't think it will work for long though." The man carefully touched the Keyblade, examining it. "Hard to believe you're the chosen one and all, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Also, uh, I'm sorry for knocking you out before. I really didn't mean to do that… though it did make things easier."

For the few seconds it was in his hands, the Keyblade vanished, then reappeared in Sora's grasp. Even though they didn't mean harm, Sora held it up above his waist, just in case this man or Yoshimitsu tried anything. "Okay, several questions… first off, what's your name?"

"Cloud." The man replied. It definitely felt familiar to Sora.  
"Second, if you're gonna touch my Keyblade thing… can I at least take a look at your sword?"  
"Uhh, the Buster Sword isn't a toy, so no."  
"Okay, well then, at least tell me… what's going on around here!?"

—

"Listen," the woman in leather explained, sitting on a bed in a hotel room. "You know there are many worlds out there, right? Besides the Mushroom Kingdom and other places you know of? And that we can't let anyone know?"

Toad and Luigi looked at each other, and nodded. They learned it from Snake, but they wondered how this woman knew about it. "It's been kept secret from everyone, because these worlds have never been connected… until now, when the Heartless came."

—

"The Heartless…?" Sora questioned.  
"Those are the names of the beasts that pursued you." Yoshimitsu answered.

"They are those without hearts," Cloud continued, "darkness in people's hearts, that's what attracts them. There is darkness, within every heart… Tell me, have you ever heard of someone named Ansem?"

—

"Ansem?" Toad wondered, having never heard of the name in his life.

"He was a man who started studying the Heartless. He recorded his findings, but the pages are now scattered everywhere, due to the worlds suddenly becoming connected."

"So… did my brother go to find those pages?" Luigi asked.  
"That's what I assume."  
"We should hurry up and find Mario then!"  
"But what about the key!?" Toad interjected.  
"Oh, you mean the Keyblade?" The woman answered again, with a smile.

—

"So," Sora held up the Keyblade, "this is the key?"  
"Correct." Yoshimitsu answered.  
"Those Heartless creatures? They fear that thing. That's why they'll keep coming after you." Cloud explained.  
"I didn't ask for this."

"Of course you didn't. Instead, the Keyblade asked for you." Yoshimitsu said to Sora, hoping it would encourage him. "Such a weapon chooses its master. It is not a destiny that can be easily handed to somebody else. Your fate is one that is sought by many, and—"

"How did all this happen?" Sora asked, his patience running out even more. "I remember being in my room and—" He gasped, remembering. "My home, my island! That's right! What happened to it?" Sora questioned, looking at Yoshimitsu and Cloud. "Along with those animals I saw, they can't get in contact with people they know! What's going on!? Why are there talking animals, dinosaurs, and… giant ninja bugs with a skull for a face, in this town!?"

Yoshimitsu lowered his gaze as Sora said that, kneeling to the boy's level. "I understand how you feel. A couple of days ago, I was fighting a man named Heihachi Mishima, in hopes of gaining more funds for the Manji Party. Then, all of a sudden—"

"Yoshimitsu," Cloud interjected, "try to keep it on the low if you can… sorry kid, we just can't really give out that sort of info to you just yet. Anyway, let's go meet up with Tifa. Maybe she's found something."

"CLOUD!"

Yoshimitsu pointed at the corner, a Heartless appearing. Cloud drew his sword. "Yoshimitsu, go! Sora, come on!" Yoshimitsu ran for the door as Cloud and Sora jumped out the window to lead the Heartless away.

Yoshimitsu ran out the door, barely realizing that Tifa was at the other side. As she ran after him, she left behind Toad, who looked at the door closing, revealing a flattened Luigi behind it.

Back outside, Sora and Cloud were dealing with a group of Heartless. But it seemed like more were coming the more they beat them. "Sora, forget about the small fry! Find and beat the leader!" Sora gave a quick nod as Cloud covered him as he ran to look for the head Heartless.

_

After battling his way through several groups of Heartless, Sora found his way to the Third District. He found a moment to breathe, but not a long one. Above him on a ledge were Toad and Luigi, trying to find anyone after Tifa ran off. Luigi thought he found something when Heartless appeared behind them. "A-a-are these the Heartless that Tifa told us about?" Luigi shook a little as Toad took a battle stance. "Let's get them, Luigi!"

One second later, they were blown off the ledge, and landed on top of Sora. Dazed, they barely had enough time to realize what they landed on when they saw the same thing. "The Key!" But celebration would have to wait as more Heartless appeared. Sora didn't know what to think about these news faces, but he knew they were against the Heartless when they started charging at them.

Beating the group was Heartless was a little easier. Sora didn't know if it was from experience or from the extra help, But they were going down just like that. But then he realized that it became a little too quiet. The feeling of dread he was getting was increased by stone columns suddenly popping up, sealing off the district.

Before he could try to break out, a series of loud clanging noises rang out behind him. He turned to see a huge pile of armor. One that had a very familiar symbol….

"Look out!" His warning came just in time as Toad jumped back to avoid getting slashed at from the gauntlet. The armor lifted itself up and behind to float its parts around as if it was a puppet on strings. Sora, Luigi, and Toad got battle ready and charged, only to get knocked back by the armor's swinging arms.

Fortunately, Toad was able to see an opening in the attack, and had an idea. "You, kid! I need you to block the arms and cover for me as I go in. Can you do that?" Sora didn't really the way Toad addressed him, but there was no time to argue. Taking a defensive stance, Sora held the spinning arms at bay, allowing Toad to get under them and safely attack the legs.

Luigi was standing at a distance, not knowing what to do, legs shaking because of that fact. But then he remembered something that could help. Pulling out the codec, he called Snake, hoping he'll pick up.

"Luigi? What is it?"  
"Help! There's a big monster attacking us! We-a don't know what to do!"  
"Does it have a weird heart symbol on it?"  
"Yes!"  
"Then it's one of the things that took away my world. Now it's time for a little bit of payback. Describe it to me. I'll see if Otacon has any intel."  
After having the description relayed, Luigi got another caller, a man with long hair and glasses.  
"Luigi, is it? I'm Otacon. I got the info you need."  
"Great! What-a is it?"  
"It's called a Guard Armor. The only way to beat it is to smash it's pieces one at a time. Only then will it become scrap metal again."  
"Thanks. I'll-a tell the others right away!"

Ending the call, Luigi ran back to the fight to tell the news, only to be surprised that Sora had already destroyed an arm and Toad a leg. "That's the right-a track! We need to destroy it piece by piece!" He joined in on the fight, tossing a few fireballs that dealt the final damage needed to the arm, leaving only the leg and the torso.

Toad was just about done dealing with the leg as well, but it went wild when the last arm disappeared, stomping all over the place and knocking the three fighters off-balance. Rolling to dodge, Sora decided to see if the Keyblade had any other tricks. Focusing his energy to the Keyblade, he imagined the fireball that Luigi did, thinking he could try the same thing. To his surprise, he succeeded. It wasn't as strong as the one the plumber did, but it was enough to destroy the leg.

Then it was the torsos turn to go wild. It started spinning around and slamming into the ground in a completely random pattern that it was all they could do to only dodge. Sora ended up getting put into a corner, with the torso closing in. He was not liking where this was going, and he was all out of ideas. Looking around for anything that could be helpful, his attention was grabbed by a trio of red and white ball that appeared to be shaking.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he reached down, pushing on what looked like buttons, opening the balls and sending out a bright white light. Sora blinked, and nearly jumped at the sight of three creatures standing before him. One was a tiny blue turtle. Another was a dinosaur-like thing with a half-budding pod on its back. And the last resembled an orange dragon. But was was strangest was that they were not looking at Sora, but at the creature, with very unhappy looks on their faces.

Before Sora could say anything, he noticed that the dinosaur's bud was starting to glow like it was charging up. Smoke was coming out of the dragon's

mouth as the turtle took a deep breath.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!"  
"SAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRR!"  
"SQUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!"

A combined blast of fire, water, and sunlight erupted from the trio, hitting the torso right in the center. Sora could feel the shockwave from where he was standing. When the blast ended, the torso stood still for a moment, before shaking. The helmet fell off, and out of the armor came a glowing heart-shaped object, the floated gently before disappearing. The armor gave out one more shudder before dissolving into a dark mist. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sora started to thank the strange creatures who saved him, only to see that they went back into the balls.

"I wonder," He thought, "If those were also people who have been separated from their world and friends. That would explain their reaction to that Heartless." Picking up the balls, he put them in his pocket. "I'd better hold on to them. I might run into their friends and help reunite them." After making sure that there were no more Heartless, we went to talk to the two people who helped him and seemed to know about the Keyblade.

_

"So you were looking for me?"  
"Yes."  
"They two, were looking for the Keyblade's wielder."  
Sora turned around to see Cloud and Yoshimitsu behind him.  
"Why don't you come-a with us? We have a ship that-a can take us to other worlds."  
"I wonder if I can find Riku and Kairi….."  
"Sure."  
Luigi pulled in Toad to whisper.  
"Are you sure?"  
"I don't know, but we need him to find Mario, remember?"  
"Sora go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."  
"Yeah, I guess….."  
"But you can't come looking like that. No frowning. Only smiles, see?"  
Luigi caught onto what Toad was doing. "Yeah, you've got to look funny, like us."  
"Only happy faces on this boat!"  
"Happy?"  
There was a moment of silence, then Sora did one of the cheesiest smiles he'd ever done. Luigi and Toad ended up on the ground in laughter.  
"Why not? I'll join you guys."  
"Toad."  
"I'm Luigi."  
"I'm Sora."  
"All for one, and one for all!"

_

"That child… he beat our Heartless monsters!?" Growled a rather muscular man, who wore some sort of helmet. In the darkness, he could not be seen, and his allies were not visible either.

"Only because of the weapon he wields," another man spoke, "it is much like the blade of evil's bane… it chooses its master, and shall slay whatever stands in its way."

"Uh, hellooooo? Why don't any of you stupid squishes just turn him into one of those weird, black creatures!?" Another figure shrieked, appearing to be tall, lanky, and robotic. "Isn't that what you're all supposed to do?"

"Easier said than done, the darkness would have to consume him, according to the vampire." A floating hologram replied, jabbing one of the other characters that was present. He was notably shorter than the others, and had taken a nap in his chair, clearly uninterested in what was going on.

"Looks like the cowardly, green plumber and the mushroom-headed one are with that kid." Another man spoke, being rather tall, round, and having a bushy mustache.

"Indeed, that is the case," one last person murmured, who was the only one to show their face out of the darkness. A man with long, white-grey hair, with a beard to match. He wore a black cloak that was red on the inside, and also had a white cravat. "I shall be keeping an eye on this one, he may prove to be… amusing."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2  
Nightmare in Dream Land

After a short right on the small starfighter— now dubbed as the Gummi Ship by Toad because it reminded him of colorful gummy candies— Sora and his two new partners found themselves in the first world they were able to visit; Planet Popstar.

Oceans, calm oceans surrounded them…

It wasn't like the stormy one that Sora crossed not too long ago. It was calm, the sunset reflected off the water, creating a beautiful orange color. The moment Sora reached the dock, he was in awe by it. This was the kind of world he hoped to see when he set sail, one he wanted to reach with Riku and Kairi.

Maybe he would find them here, there was always a slight chance. He was definitely going to—

"Poyo?"

… Encounter a small, round. pink cream puff, that had red jellybeans for feet. It looked friendly, had little blush marks on its face, rather cute if Sora had to be completely honest. "Uh, hi there." Sora greeted, looking over to see if his two new friends were close by. Thankfully, they weren't far, Toad had fallen headfirst onto the ground, while Luigi was already screaming in panic.

"Knights!" Luigi yelped, running behind Sora and the round creature.

Sora looked up to a palm tree, seeing another short, round character, but wearing a mask and carrying a golden sword. He didn't say a word, only pointing his blade at the round creature. Sora was confused, until he looked at who the masked one was directing, seeing several armored characters head in his direction.

It was a little hard for Sora to take seriously, since they were all less than half his height. The masked figure instantly fled the scene, leaving his underlings to do the dirty work. "Not even a couple seconds in, and we're already fighting?" Sora said aloud. Toad prepared the shields in his hands, while Luigi nervously began preparing a fireball attack. The small round creature, also gave an intimidating pose.

But just before the rather short warriors could do anything, several fireballs were launched at them, destroying them in seconds. It wasn't Luigi's, since the fire was red, rather than green. Everyone began looking around, wondering who or what exactly did that just now, and found an answer just as quickly.

Heartless, wearing some sort of red attire that had an emblem on it, and also having a pointed hat which was curled at the tip. Out of everyone there, the round creature was the most confused by this sudden turn of events, while Sora and the other two didn't even need to hesitate.

Sora jumped at these types of Heartless, known as Red Nocturnes, according to Otacon, and began swinging his Keyblade at them. Toad blocked off the fiery attacks with his shields, then bashed a Heartless to daze them, which allowed Sora to dive in for the kill. Luigi tried using his fireballs on the Heartless, but it didn't seem to do anything much against them. Changing it up and pulling out an Ice Flower, he tried to use an ice attack instead, proving to be extremely effective.

The most that the round creature could do to help, was try to swallow one of the Heartless, and spit them back out to another. Before long, just about all of them were cleared out, and nothing was nearby to threaten Sora or his friends. "Almost too easy." Sora said, putting away his Keyblade, while Luigi and Toad did a quick victory dance. The round creature did the same, even though he didn't have much clue as to what was going on, besides the fact that he won. "Say little guy," Sora called out to him, "what's your name anyway?"

"Kabi!"  
"Uh, Cabby?"  
The creature shook its head. "Kai-bi!"  
"Kairi? I mean, that's a little weird, since…"

Becoming more agitated, the creature tried to spell out each part of his name. "K-ai-ar-bi!"  
"Carby?" Luigi wondered, the creature shaking its head.  
"I think he's saying it's Kirby!" Toad exclaimed.

Finally, the round creature jumped in joy, nodding. "Okay, so it's Kirby?" Once again, Kirby nodded at Sora. "Nice to meet you Kirby. What is it that you're doing here?" While Sora was asking questions, Luigi partly wondered if he should change his outfit, but Toad mumbled to him how their colorful characteristics fit in just fine with the setting.

Rather than answering with words, since he had no way of telling them, Kirby showed off pieces what looked like a wand that had a star at the tip of it. Two portions of it were missing, rendering the object to seem incomplete. Kirby then pointed over to a fortress, taking the parts of the wand he had collected, then running off. "I think he's asking us to follow him, and maybe give him a hand?" Toad assumed, getting a running start to catch up with Kirby.

Sora hoped that by helping Kirby, he could restore the order of this world, find this Mario character, along with his friends. Luigi, just hoped that nothing else scary would pop up like those knights, even if they were so much shorter than him.

Just before leaving though, Sora couldn't help but take a peek around the area. Good thing he did too, because not far from the shore line, were some balls with a button on them, just like the three Sora had seen in Traverse Town. He would have checked its contents, but it was probably better to save them for when he was in a more dire situation. Luigi had noticed he was searching, and out of curiosity, found a ball also near the tree that the masked figure was standing on.

"Alright, now we can get a move on." Sora said, knowing that if any trouble stood in his way, he would be prepared.

_

When they all got to the fortress, they saw the masked one, trying to fight off several Heartless, which continued appearing. "Away you fiends!" He yelled, surprising Kirby. "I shall send you back to whatever realm you came from, for attempting to ambush me!" Although he was successful in disposing of one Heartless after another, they barely seemed fazed, and just kept coming at him.

A Heartless Soldier jumped at the masked figure, but just before it could hit him, Sora tossed one of the balls he found. "Miiiime!" A clown-like creature shouted, instantly creating a barrier to protect the masked one. In the meantime, Kirby found a sword that was planted in the ground, and pulled it out. Holding the sword up high, Kirby suddenly had a green cap on his head, preparing to also fight against the Heartless Soldiers.

Another ball was tossed, this time, a sheep creature came out, sparks of electricity coming out of its wool. It rammed against some of the Heartless that Toad was struggling with. The rest were easily taken care of, now that their numbers were depleting. Before long, the Heartless began to withdraw, knowing that they were outmatched and losing their numbers.

The barrier around the masked figure vanished, and the clown-like creature was returned to his ball. Sora approached him, hoping to get some answers, since he was clearly more verbal than Kirby was. "Who are you?" The masked one questioned, carefully getting up.

"Actually, that's what I want to know. I also want to know what Kirby here is trying to fix, and why you sent your underlings after us before they got pushed aside!" Sora retorted, towering over the masked one.

As humiliating as it was, he was just rescued by both Kirby and this young man. Turning around to face the other direction, the masked one began speaking. "They refer to me as Meta-Knight. King Dedede tasked me with protecting one of the seven pieces of the Star Rod. Kirby had defeated the others, in hopes of restoring the Star Rod, and bringing it back to the Fountain of Dreams. I was to stop Kirby at any cost."

"But why?" Luigi asked. Briefly pausing, Meta-Knight wasn't sure whether to tell them the truth or not. For now, he decided against it, since he did not feel it was the right moment to do so. Instead of responding, Meta-Knight tossed a fragment of some kind to Kirby.

"For aiding me in a time of need, when I was in danger… I am grateful." He said to them, sheathing his sword. "I feel ashamed to give this to you without a proper duel, but I am afraid those strange creatures have worn me out. I had witnessed them appear a few times near Rainbow Resort, but King Dedede thought nothing of them. Considering how they suddenly struck me, I am afraid that King Dedede may be in danger as well."

Kirby excitedly picked up the fragment, which immediately fused with the rest of the Star Rod. Discarding of the Sword ability and hat, he began to dance, joyously. Sora didn't know who this King Dedede was, neither did Luigi or Toad. "Where can we find King Dedede anyway? We can't risk those… things, getting him!" Unsure whether to speak the name of the Heartless in front of Meta-Knight, Sora tried to use the first word that popped into his mind instead.

"Past this fortress, is Rainbow Resort. You must clear the trial of the Battle Tower, and continue on towards the path which leads to the Fountain of Dreams. King Dedede will be there, holding the last piece of the Star Rod, provided that those creatures did not get to him first." His cape transforming into a pair of wings, Meta-Knight prepared to take flight. "In return for saving me, I shall meet up with you again very soon, so I can explain why King Dedede is doing this."

After speaking, Meta-Knight flew out of the fort, leaving everyone a bit puzzled. Kirby however, just continued on towards Rainbow Resort.

_

The sky was as if you were staring up into space itself, and the earth was icy as ever. It wasn't really what Sora expected when Meta-Knight told him about Rainbow Resort, he thought it would be like an actual, colorful resort that would be relaxing. Instead though, the place was freezing. It wouldn't surprise Sora if this place was one of the most northern parts of Popstar, or if the place simply never got much sunlight.

Despite this however, the place was rather beautiful, with how the stars reflected off of the ice, and the aurora that was high up in the sky. Sora wished that his friends were here to see it with him. He never would have imagined a sight like this. As they were walking, careful not to slip on the icy roads, Kirby immediately stopped upon seeing a tower in the distance.

"That must be the Battle Tower!" Toad exclaimed, while Luigi trembled at the sight of it. Everyone quickly made their way over to it, but upon getting closer, they saw that the main entrance had been blocked off. Meta-Knight was there as well, taking his sword out, slashing at the red and black claws that were poking through the keyhole, keeping the door locked.

"Uh, do you need some help there?" Sora asked, taking a look at the strange door.  
"This was not here before. Those creatures… they must have done this."  
"Should I give it a try?"

"No, do not waste your energy." Meta-Knight replied, looking up at the tower. "There's a secret entrance, actually. I am hoping that those creatures did not block that one off as well." He then glanced at Kirby. "If it is possible, Kirby, could you float up there and see if we can enter through the window?"

Nodding, Kirby puffed himself up like a balloon, and began flapping his stubby arms, making his way up. "Now then… I did not want to mention this to Kirby, since he would not understand, but the Fountain of Dreams had been corrupted by a malevolent force." Sora, Luigi and Toad were all shocked at the sudden revelation, unsure what to say about that. "King Dedede broke the Star Rod to keep this monstrosity from being freed, even if it causes dreamless slumbers, the king thought it was a sacrifice worth making. While I do not completely agree with the decision, I can understand why he did such a thing, and I was willing to follow his orders."

"Poyo!" Kirby called out to the others down below, finding a window that had a grate over it. He managed to squeeze through the bars with his rubbery body, gaining entrance into the Battle Tower. Sora seemed a bit puzzled as to how they were going to get in there, until Meta-Knight spread his wings again.

"I shall fly you up there, and rid of the bars. The rest, shall be up to you and Kirby… what is your name, if I may ask?" Meta-Knight questioned.

"Sora," he replied, "and these are my friends, Luigi and Toad. Why do you want to know?"  
"I merely wanted to remember the names of those who had assisted me."

With Meta-Knight's help, they all were able to get inside of the Battle Tower. After he was done, Meta-Knight parted ways, hoping to catch up with them once this was all over.

_

All the sub-bosses Kirby had encountered before, were no longer there. In their place, were more Red Nocturnes and Soldiers were. It was easy enough for Sora to deal with. He and Toad took care of the Soldiers, while Luigi began freezing the Red Nocturnes. Kirby, noticing what sort of attacks Luigi was using, sucked in one of the ice balls that missed, and swallowed it. Luigi was confused at first, until Kirby changed forms. His skin had turned blue, and Kirby was now wearing a crown made of ice on his head. With his gained ability, Kirby quickly started helping Luigi.

A larger Heartless suddenly took form. Bulky, round, and wearing a silver hat. It swung its arms at Luigi, who began to panic. Luckily, Toad was not only good with shields, but healing as well, since he always carried Super Mushrooms with him. Tossing one to Luigi, the green plumber restored his health, while Sora and Kirby took care of the Large Body Heartless.

Thankfully, it was done for within just a minute. Not a single Heartless was blocking their path in the tower, and Sora had picked up three more balls before moving on. "That better have been the end of it." He said to himself, reaching the very top of the Battle Tower with Kirby.

It appeared to be a dead end to them at first, until Kirby spotted a large, star-shaped object. "Poyo!" He cheered, hopping towards the object, and holding onto it. Sora didn't exactly know what would happen, but it seemed like a good idea to follow what Kirby was doing. Mounting the object, he held on tight, while Luigi and Toad did the same. Once they were all settled, the star-shaped object, known as the Warp Star, began flying off into the sky.

Sora gasped, thrilled at what was happening. He wasn't sure where this thing would take him, but it was amazing to see Rainbow Resort from such a height. Luigi on the other hand though, was screaming in terror, since he had no idea what was happening, and the Warp Star was going a little too fast for his liking.

After a while though, the Warp Star landed. Kirby stumbled a bit as he got off, but quickly started moving again. Luigi was happy just to be on the land again, but Sora looked towards where Kirby was headed. A beautiful fountain, not far from there, most likely being the place Meta-Knight had described. "That must be the Fountain of Dreams," Toad exclaimed, "we should hurry, and see if that king guy is alright!"

_

At the Fountain of Dreams, Kirby found himself a little surprised once again, as his expectations were subverted. A large, blue penguin, wearing a robe and a hat which had a cotton ball at the top, had been fending off Heartless for a while with his hammer. Sadly, he had been eventually ganged up on. A Soldier Heartless snatched away a fragment of the Star Rod, and ran off with it, not even noticing Sora's presence.

Sora could only wonder why there were so many Heartless around, like there was something nearby that they were after. Was it the Star Rod piece? The monstrous force corrupting the Fountain of Dreams? Whatever the Heartless were aiming for, they had to be stopped, before it got worse.

All four of them chased after the Soldier Heartless, hoping it wouldn't go too far. Luigi tossed a fireball at it from afar, hoping it would hit, while Sora slashed at any of the others standing in their way. Thankfully, it was a direct hit, as the Soldier Heartless was stalled for a short moment. "Poyo!" Kirby attempted dashing towards it, and started inhaling, hoping to catch the Soldier Heartless. It wasn't able to get away from being sucked in, and was immediately spat out, over to the Fountain of Dreams.

"That was a close one!" Sora exclaimed, as he and Kirby went to pick up the last fragment of the Star Rod. Adding the last piece, the Star Rod had been fixed, much to Kirby's glee. Sora instantly recalled what Meta-Knight said trying to stop the pink creature. "Wait, Kirby, don't!" His plea went unheard however, as Kirby planted the Star Rod into the Fountain of Dreams.

King Dedede finally had woken up, startled to see the Star Rod suddenly jammed in the Fountain of Dreams. Kirby didn't see anything wrong with what was going on, until a dark sphere, covered in stars, bursted out of the fountain and knocked the Star Rod away. Luigi, Kirby, and King Dedede all started panicking collectively, until the sphere flew off into the sky.

"What do we do now!?" Toad questioned, while the others kept panicking, except for King Dedede. Looking at the Star Rod, and the four heroes before him, he puffed up his chest, and attempted to inhale all of them, much like Kirby would. Sora and the others were sucked in, along with the Star Rod.

Looking up at where the dark sphere went, King Dedede immediately spit the four heroes in its direction. King Dedede had no idea how this would go, but he could only hope that Kirby and his three friends would get rid of the problem, since he couldn't.

_

Sora couldn't help but scream as he had no idea where he was headed. Neither did anyone else for that matter… until they saw that somehow, King Dedede had shot them all the way to the moon. There were several questions in Sora's mind, such as how the heck they would survive from this without breaking any bones— he didn't even know how they were alive right now, if they were in space!

Despite his concerns though, Sora began to feel the gravity of the area around him, which was notably more… floaty than what one would experience on Earth. "What is going on anymore!?" Sora looked around, seeing Luigi and Toad were just fine. Kirby was holding the completed Star Rod, looking up at the sphere. It bursted open, revealing a small man, which began flying around the group.

He began cackling as he grew in size, appearing to be some sort of wizard with pale skin, wearing shades over his eyes. Around his body was a robe, which spun almost like a tornado. "Those strange creatures sent to attack the King… they really did make freeing me much easier." The wizard laughed, no longer flying around aimlessly.

"Who are you!?" Sora demanded to know, pointing the Keyblade at him. "Were you the one who sent those," not wanting to say the word in front of Kirby, Sora changed it like he did before, "things, to attack King Dedede and Meta-Knight!?" Kirby, wanting to imitate Sora, pointed the Star Rod at the wizard too.

"Haha, wouldn't that be interesting? Sadly, I'm afraid that isn't the case."  
"What?"  
"I am Nightmare," the wizard announced, "I admit, these unusual creatures may have been drawn to my presence somehow, but other than that, there is no connection to us."  
"So wait," Toad wondered, "you had nothing to do with them invading this land?"  
"Correct," Nightmare replied, "as for me, I shall take over Dream Land, thanks to your help."  
"Help?" Sora spat, getting into position. "You won't be thanking us much longer when we get rid of you!"  
"Poyo!"

"Oh, is that so? I would very much like to see you try." Opening up his robe and laughing, Kirby noticed a spiral of darkness beneath it. Taking a random shot, Kirby whacked at it with the Star Rod, making Nightmare flinch in pain. "Gah, you little…!" Pulling away from Kirby, Nightmare closed up his robe.

At least Sora knew what his weak spot was now, which would make things a lot easier. He tried to jump, and found himself floating for a short period of time, most likely due to the moon lacking in gravitational pull. If he could leap over to Nightmare at the right time, as his robe opened up, Sora could probably get a hit on him like Kirby did. Nightmare ended up doing exactly that, lifting a finger to prepare an attack, not realizing his robe had been slightly parted, which allowed Sora to strike his void-like body.

Teleporting away from them both, Nightmare floated in the air, and opened up his robe again, firing stars from his body. Luigi managed to get a few hits in, but it didn't do as much damage as Sora or Kirby. Once he was finished, Nightmare began flying straight at Sora, hoping to knock him down. "You will be nothing but stardust once I am finished here." Nightmare taunted, opening his robe, and violently whirling his body like a storm. He then flew up, and turned upside-down. Before Sora could be struck by the diving Nightmare though, he leapt into the air, and slashed at Nightmare's body repeatedly with the Keyblade.

"A meddlesome child you certainly are…!" He grunted, teleporting around the area, making the group wonder where he would pop up next. Nightmare appeared behind Toad, preparing his next attack, but both Kirby and Sora snuck around to see that the backside of Nightmare's robe was wide open. Just before Nightmare could try and fire stars at Toad, he was stopped by the Star Rod and Keyblade wielders.

Growing increasingly irritated by the ones opposing him, Nightmare began teleporting again, hoping to confuse his foes. He tried tricking them out by flying around, after opening up to attack for only a split second. Nightmare did not realize just how difficult the group effort was making it for him, he truly still thought he had the advantage, unaware that even Luigi and Toad's minor hits were making things much easier for their allies.

He drifted away from the group, and opened up the palm of his hand, unaware that his body was visible again. Sora and Kirby both ran towards him, avoiding the stars that Nightmare launched out of his hand, and dealt two finishing blows. Nightmare felt his entire body feel split in half, and he gave a shocked look, realizing how much pain he was in.

"You…! Stop that at once!" Nightmare shouted, not realizing that his void-like body was dissolving until he looked down. "No! I had only just been freed! How can this be!?" He began screaming, his jaw stretching wide open, a beam glowing from his eyes. Nightmare's entire essence began fading, his hands being first to vanish along with his robe. Soon, nothing was left behind but red and violet sparks. "I shall… take you… with me! You won't get out of here alive!"

The entirety of the moon began shaking, as if part of it was about to explode from Nightmare's remaining power. "Poyo!" Kirby called out, as the Warp Star instantly flew to his location.

Sora was hopeful that they could get out of this place in time, grabbing Luigi's arm so he would stop cowering at what was happening. They all held onto the Warp Star, and got away from the moon, as fast as they could.

Our heroes… Kirby, Sora, Luigi, and Toad, had all fought bravely to recover the Star Rod and save Dream Land. Right now, they began descending back to Rainbow Resort, holding onto the Warp Star tightly.

Hearing something behind him, Sora turned around, and smiled. King Dedede had recovered, and puffed himself up like Kirby did in order to accompany them. Meta-Knight was also gliding near them, relieved that everything had worked out. "Sora," he said, hoping the boy would hear him. "Thank you, for helping Kirby rid of the Nightmares, along with those unusual beasts. With the Fountain of Dreams restored to normal, and the Star Rod returned, everyone's dreams shall return to them." Meta-Knight explained, making sure he didn't fly too close.

Seeing the Fountain of Dreams ahead, Kirby raised his arm and threw the Star Rod, watching as it perfectly landed in the top of the fountain. Flashing with light, the Fountain of Dreams began spouting water again. The water reflected the area around it, making it look more beautiful than ever. Sora found it amazing, but as Kirby flew closer to it, he saw something that looked a little off.

One of the holes did not seem to be spouting water at all, and in fact, looked more like a keyhole. Sora felt a twitch come from his Keyblade, and he began to feel faint. Losing his grip and feeling tired, he let go, falling off of the Warp Star.

"SORA!"  
"POYOOOO!"

_

"Keyhole… the gateway to each world's heart."

Sora woke up, seeing nothing but black around him. Before him was a keyhole, much like the one on the Fountain of Dreams. He could hear the voice of the woman, who had spoken to him in the dream he had before all of this happened. Sora looked at his hands, seeing that he was still holding the Keyblade at least.

"You must close it… otherwise…"

The keyhole soon started to fade away, and as it did, a crystallized land of blue began to appear. It has a dark feeling to it, as some places appeared to be made of ice and glass. Just as suddenly as it made itself visibly though, it exploded into an area of red, fiery destruction. Many Heartless monsters were shown, ravaging the area, until it turned entirely black again.

"They will make it theirs…"

_

"Gah!"

Sora woke up so suddenly, and it wasn't because Toad was splashing water on him either. This place may have been the Fountain of Dreams, but he did not expect to have one on the spot, and so suddenly. He looked at his hands, just like he did in the sudden dream, and saw his Keyblade. Staring at the Fountain of Dreams for a good minute, he started to get up.

"Sora, are you okay? You suddenly passed out, and Meta-Knight had to make sure you didn't get hurt!" Toad explained, but found himself ignored, as Sora began approaching the Fountain of Dreams. "Sora? What are you doing now?"

He began pointing his Keyblade at the hole inside of the Fountain of Dreams. A beam came out of the Keyblade, heading straight into the keyhole before him. A soft clicking sound was heard, and the beam of light soon faded away.

"W-what was that?" Luigi wondered.  
"It sounded almost as if something closed." Toad replied.

King Dedede and Kirby looked at Meta-Knight, hoping he would have some insight to what was going on. "I am afraid I am unsure what happened as well. I can only assume it is a good thing… I felt at ease when I saw that weapon of yours, strangely enough, and I cannot figure out why exactly." King Dedede gave a look of suspicion, feeling that Meta-Knight had possibly known more than he was letting on, as usual, but decided to not say a word.

Instead, the large penguin walked up to Sora, and began shaking his hand. He did the same with Luigi and Toad, who were flattered that King Dedede was thanking them. "I think doing this will stop those creatures from bothering your guys. Dream Land will be safe not only from Nightmare, but also those things." Sora said with a smile. "Unfortunately, we can't stay here."

Kirby seemed rather confused, same with King Dedede, but Meta-Knight tried to explain it for Sora. "You have other places to visit on Popstar with your friends, is that right?" No one could exactly see it right now, but he was smirking under his mask. "I wish you the best of luck then."

From the way he worded it, Sora wondered if Meta-Knight was covering for him. It was as if he had already known Sora, Luigi, and Toad were from another world at the very start. "Poyo?" Kirby had a rather sad expression on his face, walking up to Sora.

"Sorry little guy, you can't come with us I'm afraid." Sora laughed, as Kirby began hugging his leg. "Maybe we'll come back to see you some day, but for now, you gotta catch up on those dreams you lost!" While a little upset, Kirby at least understood, and knew that Sora was probably right. Kirby had to protect Dream Land after all, while Sora and his two friends were focused on another part of the world.

"Alright then! To the Gummi Ship!" Toad exclaimed, as Luigi was carrying some balls he had found on the moon. As they were about to head back, Sora nearly saw something spat out of the keyhole.

He hesitated for a moment, then picked it up. It looked like something that would go with the Gummi Ship, but Sora didn't know this for a fact. Perhaps someone else could help him identify what this was.

_

With business in Dream Land finished for a while, Sora and his friends decided to head back to Traverse Town for a little while. Perhaps they could get some information about the unusual balls they had gathered, which contained those strange creatures. Toad spent a short period of time examining each and every one they found. "First we had those weird reptiles help us out in Traverse Town, now we have these."

"We know that they've been separated from their world like the Heartless so far." Sora replied, relaxing in the ship. "Hopefully we can find an answer, now that we found more of them." Peering out the window, Sora watched as they approached Traverse Town, itching to have some of his questions answered. Once the ship landed, Sora instantly hopped off, wandering around the area with Toad and Luigi.

He was only in the Third District for a brief while, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to look over there. In the distance, Sora noticed a door that he didn't examine the first time he ran around, appearing to have a flame etched on it. "I wonder…" he mumbled to himself, raising his Keyblade, casting a fiery spell on the door. It lit up as the flames made contact, glowing as if something had been activated. When Sora touched the door with his hands, it began to open, allowing them to proceed.

"Geez, how'd you know that's what we had to do?" Toad questioned.

"I, uh, didn't really." Sora looked at the Keyblade, confused as ever. "I didn't even know this could cast some elemental magic. I was just trying to do that thing I did in the Fountain of Dreams… though, it's good to know I can do that." Something about this weapon was definitely puzzling. Not only was it one for physical combat, but its purposes extended far beyond being a mere tool. He should have expected that, considering what he had been told, but it was like the Keyblade was full of surprises.

Beyond the door was an unusual-looking observatory, surrounded by a starry night sky, many beautiful lights were around the building, which helped in making it stand out more. It was lovely to Sora, but not as nice-looking as the Fountain of Dreams and the entirety of Rainbow Resort, maybe.

When they went inside however, the first impression changed a bit, as Sora felt like he was in a musty laboratory. It was dark, and felt a little damp. Sora didn't even know if anyone lived here, until he heard a voice speaking to him.

"There's something about this area…" Turning around, Sora's body froze, seeing Kairi stepping right by him. "It reminds me a little bit of the secret area back home, where we used to scribble on the walls… remember?" Her question echoed throughout the area, as Sora reached out to her.

"Kairi?" Is this where she was hiding the whole time? Or was Sora just seeing things again?

"Sora, what's wrong?" Toad asked, forcing the boy to look at his friends for a second, and then back. Within just that brief moment, Kairi was no longer there. Shocked, not entirely surprised, yet Sora was still disappointed deep down. He chose not to answer, knowing he would seem crazy in front of his two friends.

After that occurred, Sora was tempted to leave, until another voice spoke to him. "Oh, you have arrived, just in time." Luigi and Toad, finding it to be familiar, looking over to a corner of the area, seeing a woman with pale blonde hair, wearing a light blue dress and a silver crown.

"R-Rosalina!" Luigi stammered.

"Huh? Do you two know this person?" Sora wondered, realizing what she had mentioned. "Hey wait, how did she know we were coming?" Since he had thought he saw Kairi seconds ago, Sora felt he had the right to be a little suspicious, the fact this woman knew he was coming only added to it.

"Sora, meet Rosalina," Toad introduced, "she's in charge of the Comet Observatory, where we come from. Mario and her have helped each other out a few times!… Come to think of it, she was mentioned in that letter, right Luigi?"

"That's-a right, Mario said we could ask her for help if we needed it." Luigi then found something rather odd about this whole predicament, primarily, why Rosalina was here. "W-wait, Rosalina, why are you here, and not… well, in the galaxy?" Luigi asked, knowing that it was a bit out of her usual character to leave the Lumas behind.

"Your brother requested that I do something for him, which is help the one who wields the Keyblade." The area then started to light up, as if someone had activated a power generator that was inside. The platform Sora, Luigi, and Toad were standing on began to rise, all while the place began to appear more bright. "Sora, is it? It seems that when you had slain the leader of the Heartless around this area, you unknowingly gained the ability to use fire magic. Anytime you wish, I can teach you how to effectively use whatever spells you may learn." Rosalina explained to them. "Oh yes, one more thing… doctor?"

Entering the room all of the sudden was a man in a lab coat, having a puffy white beard. Luigi and Toad didn't seem to recognize him at all, so their best guess was that he was from another world, much like Sora, Snake, and Tifa. "Er, pardon the black out earlier, this place doesn't exactly have the the most stable power source."

"It is not a problem at all… This is Dr. Light, he was separated from his creations all of the sudden, so I allowed him to reside here with me until we find out what happened to them." She then turned her attention back to the bearded doctor. "Dr. Light, you may find this interesting, but the boy over there is in a situation no different than yours. He was separated from his friends, much like how you cannot locate Rock and Roll." Sora was once again, shocked to see that Rosalina knew this already, but Dr. Light seemed even more so.

"What? Is that true?"  
"Uh," Sora hesitated, "yes, Riku and Kairi. A boy with silver hair, and a girl with red hair. Have you seen them at all?"

"I'm afraid not," Dr. Light replied, "I'm guessing you wouldn't have happened to see a robot… well, someone appearing to be a young boy in blue armor?" Sora shook his head. "Or a young girl with blonde hair in a ponytail? Wears a red dress a lot of the time?"

Sora was going to say "no" again, when he felt a chill go down his spine. It was as if he suddenly remembered something from one of the dreams he had. Wasn't there someone he saw who went by that exact description? He was almost reluctant to answer. "Not around here, but," Sora muttered, "for future reference though, what would their names be?"

"Rock is the boy, often goes by 'Mega Man' to others. The girl is his sister, Roll." Dr. Light explained to them. "If there's anyway I can help, please, stop by at any given time. I'm more than willing to help someone who is going through the same troubles as I am."

"Dr. Light is quite good with teleporters, at that." Rosalina continued, smiling. "If you need someone to aid you immediately, he could assist you with that. However, the teleporter can only be used a certain amount of times however, otherwise it becomes overheated."

This was all good to hear, more help was definitely necessary for what Sora may go up against in the future. That was when he remembered something. "Oh, wait, there is something!" He then took out some of the balls from his pocket, showing them to Rosalina and Dr. Light. "Would either of you happen to know what these are? They contain weird creatures that sometimes attack." Dr. Light appeared to be completely clueless, but Rosalina's expression didn't change at all.

"I believe those are referred to as Pocket Monsters, and they are in a similar predicament as you are." Rosalina answered. This really wasn't too much of a reveal to Sora, he figured as much, with how hostile the creatures were to the Heartless. "However, they seem to have unfortunately, been scattered around and lost." Admittedly, Rosalina was having trouble explaining this sort of thing around Dr. Light. She didn't want to mention the existence of other worlds, which while she was aware of, he was not, despite his high intelligence. "They seem to be happy that they have found someone willingly regrouping them."

Pressing a button on one of the balls Sora had found on Dream Land's moon, it opened up, revealing a star-like creature that had an eye on its stomach. "Chi, chi!" It cheered, flying around for a moment and cuddling up to Sora. He couldn't help but laugh because of the ribbons on its head tickling his face a little.

"Those creatures," Dr. Light attempted to jog his own memory, "Pocket Monsters you called them, Rosalina? I do think I overheard someone in the Third District talking about them. I believe they were a scientist, much like myself. Perhaps that man could give you even more answers than we can."

Understanding, Sora and his friends departed from the observatory, wanting to do just that.

—

It didn't take much time at all, as Sora found a rectangular building within the Third District. There wasn't any need to knock on the door, since it opened automatically upon seeing Sora. He couldn't help but keep thinking back to Rosalina knowing so much about what was going on. It bothered him, as if there was a possibility that she already knew where Riku and Kairi were, and she wasn't telling him.

Inside of the building was a laboratory. Several screens were lit up, showing images of creatures, while there were glass cases containing the strange balls. "Hello there!" An older man welcomed, wearing a lab coat much like Dr. Light, but having pointed, grey hair and thick eyebrows. "My name is Oak, people call me the Pokémon Professor!"

"Uh, Pokémon?" Sora wondered. "You mean those Pocket Monsters, right?"

"Correct! For some people, Pokémon are pets, others use them for fights, but myself… I study Pokémon as a profession." Professor Oak explained. "But first, tell me a little about yourself. Now tell me, are you a boy, or a girl?"

"What?" Sora couldn't help but have the most befuddled expression right now. Toad and Luigi seemed equally confused, curious if Oak just couldn't see them. "I'm obviously a boy—"

"Let's begin with your name, what is it?"  
"Sora!"  
"Right… So your name is Sora. Your rival… Erm, what was his name now?"

"Riku—" Sora then snapped out of it, realizing that this old man was probably losing it. "Wait, no, I'm not here to talk about that! You're a Pokémon Professor, right? I found some uh, Pokémon, I think, and I thought it would be best to bring them to you." Holding out several balls, Professor Oak broke his character, making Toad wondering if the guy had been reading everything he said off of a script.

"Oh, is that right? Hold on a moment, Sora!" Examining the first three Pokémon Sora had obtained in Traverse Town, Oak pondered over what he was seeing. "There were the Pokémon I had lost before arriving here!… In that a case I have a request for you!" Oak stated, grabbing a device on a desk. "Here is my invention, the Pokédex! It automatically records data on Pokémon you have found. It's a high-tech encyclopedia!" He then made a few adjustments to the device. "Whatever Pokémon you find inside of a Pokéball, will instantly be recorded. And with a touch of a button, you can send them to my PC. All of the Pokémon that are lost will be listed for you."

"Uh, listen, I think you're moving too fast… Do I really have to get them all?" Despite that, Sora was ignored, and Oak handed him the Pokédex regardless, along with a strange jewel. "What in the world is this supposed to be?"

"I'm not sure myself. When I came to this town, this appeared next to me. I've been holding onto it since then, hoping someone could find the answer for me." Professor Oak answered, as Sora opened the Pokédex to see what he had obtained so far.

Charizard, Ivysaur, Squirtle… those were the ones he found when fighting the Guard Armor.

Mr. Mime, Cleffa, and Mareep were all at the Orange Ocean. Snorlax, Musharna, and Bewear had been found at the Battle Tower. Alola Exeggutor, Snubbull, and Mime Jr. were grabbed near the Fountain of Dreams…

Finally, the ones found on the moon, were Cottonee, Florges, and Jirachi. The last one which had been very attached to Sora upon being released. "Allow me to rate your Pokédex… fifteen Pokémon found! You're doing great for a beginner!" Professor Oak stated.

"O…kay then. I guess we should take this jewel thing to Rosalina and Dr. Light, along with collecting whatever Pokémon we see. Better to bring them to a professional like this guy, than just leave them." Sora said with a shrug, preparing to leave the laboratory.

_

Rosalina didn't expect Sora to return, at least, not so soon. She assumed there was a reason for it, and that's where she was correct. "Say, Rosalina? I know it's a bit sudden to be back this early, but the Pokémon Professor gave me this." He held out a jewel, colored yellow for some odd reason, which Rosalina carefully took into her hands.

"One of many who lose their worlds, yet have a strong heart and pure soul, so they escape destruction, kept in a sealed form." Luigi and Toad were startled to hear that Rosalina would know so much immediately. Waving her wand around it, the jewel began to glow, electric sparks surrounding it as everyone, except her, was blinded.

When Sora opened his eyes, a boy in a red hat stood there, wearing a blue jacket. Alongside him was a yellow rodent creature, which had black spots on the tip of his pointy ears, a bolt-shaped tail, and bright red cheeks. "Pika pi!" The rodent squeaked, looking confused as to where it was.

"Whoa, where are we!? This doesn't look like Johto, Pikachu!" The boy shouted. With little hesitation, he ran up to Sora. "What's the big idea, did you kidnap us or something? Are you working with Team Rocket!?" Startled by his reaction, Sora and his friends took a step back.

"What are you talking about!?" Toad snapped.  
"W-we freed you!" Luigi stammered.  
"That Professor Oak guy gave us a jewel, and so Rosalina freed you from it!" Sora retorted.  
The boy then paused, as did the rodent. "Wait, Professor Oak?"  
"Yeah," Sora replied, "just who are you anyway?"  
"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town! And this is Pikachu!"  
"Pika pika!"

"We were separated from our friends… I didn't realize you knew Professor Oak." Ash seemed embarrassed, but tried to laugh it off. "So wait, that means you're a Pokémon Trainer too, right? You have a Pokédex there, so you must be!" Ash exclaimed, while Pikachu cheered. "We should have a Pokémon battle then, are you collecting gym badges too?"

"No, I'm not." Sora sighed, not understanding a word of what Ash was saying. Then again, chances are Ash completely ignored the part where Sora said he was freed from the jewel.

Rosalina pondered over the situation, then looked over to the teleportation device that Dr. Light was making adjustments to. "Sora," Rosalina started, "perhaps Ash and Pikachu can help you. Anytime you, Luigi, or Toad need something to be settled with in a 'Pokémon battle', Dr. Light can send them to aid you." She then looked over to Ash and Pikachu. "You two are itching to get back out there, aren't you?"

"Sure!" Ash immediately agreed to it, but then realized something was up. "Wait, what's going on? What am I agreeing to, and what was that about me being freed!?"

"… I'll explain it later. Sora, you go on now, to wherever your heart is leading you." Rosalina said, waving goodbye.

"Huh? Hey, who's this bearded guy in the back? Where are Misty and Brock?" Ash kept asking, which somehow didn't bother Rosalina. Sora, Luigi and Toad all took the chance to escape, not wanting to put up with the young Pokémon Trainer any longer.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 3  
The Renegade

Quickly getting back on the Gummi Ship, Sora and Co. went to look for another world to look for clues on the whereabouts of their friends. They decided to go the opposite direction than when they went to Dream Land. It didn't take them long to find another world and land. But what awaited them wasn't pretty.

They were walking in a forest where the trees had faces, and with hungry looks in their eyes. They made sure to stay away from the branches. Exiting out, they spotted what looked like an arena in the distance. Wanting to see if there was anyone there, they started walking in towards the entrance, and soon regretted it when they saw all the bones lying about. They silently agreed to turn around, they were stopped by the sudden appearance of a man with a circular straw hat, wearing a strange outfit. But what was most noticeable was that his eyes were pure white, no irises or pupils to be seen.

"Ah, more warriors for the tournament. Fighters for Earthrealm, I presume?" Sora and the others had no idea what he was talking about, but they had to answer fast. "Uh, no, we, uh, just got here. We don't know anything about a tournament." The strange man took a closer look. "My apologies. I mistook you for someone else. But you must leave. This is no place for children."

"What do you mean kids?!" Toad angrily stepped forward. "I'm an adult! And so's Luigi!"  
"It matters not. You obviously have no idea what dangers await you here. Leave now or perish." Sora was now starting to get as annoyed as Toad. True, he had no idea as to what was going on, but he wasn't liking the way that this man was speaking to them. But before he could speak his mind, a loud, booming voice surprised them all.

"I think not."

Sora turned to see a huge, muscular man, wearing what appeared to be a skull for a helmet. "If they want to participate, then I will allow it. They might bring some amusement, unlike the so-called 'warriors' you have brought." Sora and Co. were getting madder and madder at how they were still being looked down upon, but they took the invitation gladly when the huge man stepped to the side to allow them through the door.

They were guided to three different paths, splitting them up. It made sense, since it was a tournament, but they grew a bit worried that they were going be fighting each other. Sora was a little reassured when he noticed how long the corridor he was walking down was. If the other paths were as long, and if they were to face each other, then they wouldn't be doing so for a while.

Sora emerged from the corridor to an arena, to see a man dressed in weird, purple garb, with most of his face covered. "You're my opponent? A child? I don't think you're even worth finishing." Sora really didn't like that comment and instantly got ready for battle. Which was good as he had to suddenly dodge an attack of water. He was confused at first but then noticed that the water was coming from the warrior. Instead of being afraid, he wondered if that could be used against him. He put his focus in the same way he did with the fire, trying to do something with the water. A split-second later, he felt a sudden chill. He looked up to see that the water all around his opponent had frozen solid, rendering him immobile. He toppled over and fell out of the arena stand, flat on his face. Before Sora could start laughing, a voice from behind startled him.

"Finish him."

He turned to see an old man with a white beard and mustache, dressed in some official-looking robes. "I said, finish him."  
"Isn't he already finished? I won, didn't I?"  
"Yes, know you must finish him. Take your weapon, and destroy him."  
"What?! No! Why do I have to?"  
"This is the Mortal Kombat Tournament. The end of the battle means the end of the loser. Now finish him!"  
"No. I beat him. I don't need to do any more. If you have any objections, then we can go right now."

The old man looked very disappointed, but walked away. "Have it your way, boy. But it will just get more dangerous for you here." Sora grew concerned at his words, and looked around hoping to see his friends and hoping that they were all right.

Luckily, it didn't take long. Toad was fighting someone that had green scales all over his body, and a very long tongue. Which Toad was using to swing him around and slam him into the ground. Sora spotted Luigi soon after, using a vacuum-like thing to defeat a red-clad warrior that had green swirls around him that looked like ghosts. Glad that they were ok, Sora readied himself for his next opponent, not knowing of the danger watching him.

"See? They are dangerous like I have said. Such power from such frail bodies can only be the work of the Gods." Shao was lurking in the shadows, talking to a tall, muscular man with snow-white skin save for a few red marks. "I still do not wish to bring harm to children. If they are under the influence of the Gods then maybe we can save them."  
"That won't work. Even if you do what you are meant to do and kill Raiden, they will just retaliate to avenge him. And look at how they fight. They insult their opponents by not giving them a warrior's death. Should such beings be allowed to live and grow into bigger threats?"  
"I will destroy the God like you said, but it will take more to justify the deaths of the children."

Kratos walked away, leaving Shao Khan. "This will not do. In order for our plans to succeed we need the boy gone. If the Spartan won't do it, I have other ways." He turned back to the shadows, walking towards the sound of a deep growl.

_

Sora was sitting with Toad and Luigi, comparing notes while waiting for the next match. A growing unease was coming from them. "Maybe that guy was right. Maybe we should have left."  
"Do you think we could-a leave now?"  
"I don't think so. With what I've heard in the treatment of losers, I don't want to know the treatment of quitters."

They didn't know what to do, and they weren't given the chance to try further.

"ATTENTION WARRIORS!"

Everyone jumped at the booming voice, turning to see the one that let them participate. "It appears that we have some warriors that do not fully honor the tournament. And yet they are great fighters. I say we should let them prove themselves in a special match against a warrior of my choosing." He directed their attention to the arena where Kratos had already arrived, blades at the ready. Sora and the others didn't know what to do, so they went forward with the match, hoping to find a way out before it was too late.

Kratos charged forward as soon as they stepped into the arena. "I bear you no ill will, but the will of the Gods must be crushed!" They had no idea what he was talking about, and didn't have the time to ask. They were too busy dodging to do so. "How are we supposed to beat this guy? He's too fast!" Sora couldn't answer that due to running for his life. But the range and moment of Kratos's chains made it extremely difficult. Sora was worried that he was going to trip.

Wait, trip? Sora started to come up with an idea. "Luigi! I need you to distract him. Toad, on my mark, charge." Personally, Luigi didn't want to get close to Kratos, but this was no time to argue. "H-h-hey, big guy! Over here!" A few fireballs quickly got Kratos's attention, and long legs quickly got Luigi away.

Thankfully, Sora only needed a few seconds to set everything up. All that was needed was Kratos. Sora aimed the Keyblade, and sent a fireball much bigger than Luigi's at Kratos's head. It didn't do much damage, but Kratos's anger was so intense that you could cut it with a knife. Unfortunately, his anger became his undoing, for as he charged at Sora, he failed to notice the sheet of ice that was set in front of him.

"Toad, now!" Toad ran and jumped with all his might as Kratos slipped on the ice. Successfully knocking him down, Luigi and Sora followed suit to pin him down. Before Kratos could even get angry at being tricked, his arms and legs were already tangled up in the heroes' combined grips. "We just-a won, right?" Luigi's question was unfortunately answered by Kratos throwing the three heroes off of him in one go and getting up, anger radiating from his body.

"You dare resort to petty y chance you had for mercy is over. I will end you now!" There was no stopping him or even a chance to calm him down. His attacks became quicker and more vicious, giving very little space for evasion. Fear overtook Sora and the others, leading to some desperate moves. Namely, throwing the Keyblade. Luckily, it landed a blow, hitting Kratos's leg and knocking him over. It obviously did some damage as Kratos wasn't getting up easily. "You…...will not see…"

SLAM!

Whatever Kratos was about to say was interrupted by a large, scaly foot landing on him. A foot that belonged to a huge, reptilian beast. As it roared, the whole arena shook. "Excellent." Shao Khan looked at the scene, watching the spectators flee in terror. "Togera will destroy them easily. It was worth all the trouble to bring that monster from his world before we claimed it."

Unfortunately, his desired result was not instantaneous. Thanks to the difference in size between Togera and Sora, the towering beast didn't see them. It started to turn to look for prey that it could see, taking his foot off of Kratos. Sora and his friends felt relieved at that until they saw the other foot coming down as Togera turned. "NO!"

KRA-BOOM!

The sky shook as a huge bolt of lightning came down and struck Togera in the side, tilting him for a second and making him land his foot away from Kratos, allowing for escape. Which was what Sora had in mind as he charged forward to pick him up. But someone already beat him to it. It was a young man wearing only pants and a bandana on his forehead. He picked Kratos up easily and ran for the exit. "Come on, we only have this chance! Raiden, you got us covered?" Sora turned to see the strange man from earlier with electricity sparking from his hands. "Yes. Go, save what you can, we'll handle this!" He was joined by a man with metal arms and a woman in a military uniform, launching energy blasts at Togera's legs. Sora and the others wanted to join in as well, but they wanted to see make sure Kratos was ok first.

_

"Hey, he's waking up!" Sora and Toad rushed to Luigi as Kratos regained consciousness. The sounds of Togera's rampage were still in the background, but they had other things on their minds. "Uuuuuh…..What…"  
"Thank goodness you're alright." Kratos turned to the man that carried him out. "I'm Liu Kang. A fellow fighter in the tournament. I carried you out when the monster stepped on you. Though I'm surprised that you didn't die from that."  
"It will take a lot more than that to put me down. Although, why did you save me? Are you not a servant of that god?"  
"Yes, I am here with Raiden, but he and I fight for the freedom of Earthrealm from Shao Khan's tyranny. Whatever Shao Khan told you was a lie. It was even Raiden who made sure the monster would not crush you again."  
"...I will determine if your words are truth or not. But for now, the monster must be destroyed - errrrrr!"  
Liu Kang stopped Kratos from moving. It was obvious that he took damage than he was implying. "You stay here and recover. We'll handle this!" Sora started off when a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Woah kid, I don't think you should do this. The only reason you were fighting was to provide amusement for Shao Khan. You're not warriors, you can't go in there." Sora just knocked his hand off. "I don't care. There are people who need help, and I won't stand by." He quickly ran off after that, with Toad and Luigi behind him. Liu Kang just stood there dumbfounded as Kratos began to see them in a new light.

_

"Is Jax ok, Sonya?" Sonya was picking her ally up, who was needing obvious repairs on his arms. "He'll live, but he's out of this fight. This isn't looking good." The spectators were gone out of harm's way, but it was unknown how long that would last. If Raiden and the others lost control of the situation, Togera can easily break through the walls and rampage wherever he wanted.

And it seemed like he would, until a fireball hit him in the ankle. Turning in anger, he looked down to see a scrawny kid running towards him. Though lacking pride, his instincts didn't like the idea of pests getting the better of him. Especially pests he can squish in an instant. "Ok, we got his attention! You get out while we take care of him!"

Raiden didn't want to leave them, but his friends' safety came first, and Sora's actions in the tournament led to Raiden seeing potential in the boy. Helping Sonya carry out Jax, he planned to come back to watch and see how they will do.

"So, what do we do-a now? Do we actually have a plan to attack?" Sora didn't exactly know how to answer that. He was mostly just annoyed at everyone looking down on him. Luckily, an idea quickly formed in his head. "Remember the trick we did to Kratos? Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

Toad looked at him like he was crazy while Luigi had a "We're gonna die" face. But they admitted it was better than nothing. "Luigi! You're the best when it comes to jumping and avoiding attacks! Distract him as if you were a fly!"

"But what if he squishes me like one?!" Toad had no patience for Luigi's stalling as he threw him on Togera's leg. Luigi reacted instantly, running for dear life avoiding the titanic claws coming at him. "Wasn't that kind of mean?"

"If he's still screaming, he's still alive. Let's keep it that way and start making ice!" Sora could only follow his lead as they froze the ground. With two people, it was done much faster, a good thing when dealing with a big foot. Within a few minutes, there was more than enough ice to make said foot's destination slick. The towering lizard found himself tipping over as he fell to the side, his head hitting the stands, knocking himself out from the impact.

"All right! We did it!"  
"Thank-a goodness. I was about to die from-a fright."  
"You always say that."  
"Then allow me to say something different."

The three of them turned in surprise to Raiden standing behind them. "Watching you take down that beast, I realize I was wrong about you. You do have what it takes to be warriors, and you can continue to prove yourselves in the tournament. But we will have to wait a while, while we try to undo the damage the monster has done."

Glad for the break, Sora and the others decided to head to other worlds to try and look for their friends, but silently promised to come back as they knew that Shao Khan had to be stopped. On the way back to the Gummi Ship they bumped into Kratos, who wished to talk. "So, Raiden is not evil, and neither are you."  
"Um, no. Why did you think that?"  
"My life has become about nothing more than ending the Gods, as they cannot be trusted. Shao Khan brought me here to destroy Raiden. He said he was trying to conquer other worlds, and everyone fighting with him was his ally. I see now that I was tricked, and yet I still find it hard to believe that not all Gods are untrustworthy. I will continue to stay here to judge for myself, and destroy Shao Khan for his treachery. Since you saved me, I will not harm you, but only if you stay out of my way." As Kratos walked off, Sora still had something to say. "Hey maybe we can meet again in the tournament, and have a fair match this time!"  
"If it took all three of you to just trip me, you are not my match."

Luigi and Toad were now more than ready to leave, but Sora had a strangely-timed smile on his face. He really was hoping that their return will be sooner than later. He contacted Otacon to make sure he kept them updated on any news of the tournament. As they boarded the Gummi Ship, there was an unexpected face watching the scene.

"If only Kratos had finished those brats, my plan would succeed and Earthrealm would be mine! I must stop Raiden before they come back, so I can enjoy their looks of despair before I crush them…...why are you here? I told you to stay away from my affairs." The grey-haired man stepped out of the shadows, keeping his composure despite some slight annoyance. "Very well, continue to play your pointless games, mortal. At least try to remember that we have minions from the darkness." Shao Khan walked away, hating the man's arrogance more and more.

_

Nothing much was going on. The travel was going smoothly, and there was nothing new coming from Octacon or Ratchet. Things were looking like a dead end until another world was coming into view. "It's nothing special, let's move on." Luigi was a bit surprised to hear that, but not as much as Sora. "What do you mean? Our friends could be down there!"  
"Unlikely, if they were, there would be something worth mentioning by our contacts. Besides, that looks like a place that no one would be caught in."  
"I don't care, we should check it out anyway. And what if there are Heartless? We can't leave innocent people to get hurt!"  
"Tough! I'm driving!"  
"Not anymore!"  
"Hey! Get off of me!"  
"Hey-a guys, stop it! We're-a gonna crash!"

_

"OOF!"

Sora slowly got up, a pounding headache threatening to split his skull. Looking around, he noticed that he was in an abandoned hut of some kind, having fallen in through the roof. Has he got his bearings, he discovered that he was separated from his friends. As he called out for them, he didn't immediately notice the incoming danger. A strange, metal-like insect came falling down on him, nearly as big as he was. Sora quickly dodged and readied for battle, wanting to take care of this quickly.

The spar went for several minutes. Sora was able to block and parry easily, but his foe had the advantage in terms of speed and agility. And Sora didn't dare to try his spells, as he feared it would bring the hut down on them. Preparing to block again, he wasn't fully prepared for the angle the blow was coming from, and was knocked down to the floor. The creature, seeing a chance, leaping up to deal the final blow.

But just inches from Sora's face, a small boom was heard, making the creature explode. He looked up to see a man standing there, with pointed ears and green hair. He was holding a strange-looking gun, but what was even more strange looking was the orange-furred creature on his shoulder. "You ok, kid?"

Getting up, Sora nodded. "Thanks, I owe you one. My name's Sora, by the way. Any chance you may have seen my friends? I got separated from them."  
"Maybe. What are their names?"  
"There names are T-" Sora stopped himself, as he realized that he wasn't in the mood to see Toad right now. "Riku and Kairi."  
"Who and what? Those are some weird sounding names if I ever heard them." Sora was taken off guard by the strange creature suddenly talking, then taken off guard even more by a sudden image of Kairi appearing behind the two strangers. Before he could say anything, the image disappeared, leaving him dumbfounded.

"You ok, Sora? You spaced out there for a moment."  
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."  
"Ok, but as for your friends, I don't know. But maybe someone in the city has seen them. We'll take you."  
"Thanks, uh…."  
"Jak. And this Daxter."  
"The hero of the tale."  
"Right. Anyway, we were here to get something for our friend when we found you. We also found these strange balls. Don't know what they are though, never seen anything like them."  
"Wait, can I see those?"

Receiving the balls, Sora took out his Pokedex to examine them. "Let's see eecko…...Trevenant…...and Aipom. The Professor will like to have these back!" Sending them to the P.C., Sora turned back to Jak and Daxter. "A friend of mine is looking for balls like that, so you just helped me some more. Thanks!"  
"Don't mention it, but we need to get out of here now, before more Metalheads show up."  
Sora figured out that a Metalhead must have been what that thing was, and silently followed Jak, not wanting to see more of those things.

_

"W-where are we?" Luigi stammered, getting up off of the city floors. "Yuck, where did Sora go? Toad?" Backing up, Luigi nearly tripped, letting out a yelp. Looking at what he nearly tripped on, he saw the red polka dotted head, which belonged to Toad. "Toad, thank goodness you're here!"

Helping the mushroom character onto his feet, Luigi kept shivering. "Yeah, of course I'm here," Toad then noticed some kind of building, and headed in its direction. "Let's take a look in there, we'll probably get some answers as to where we are!" He exclaimed, skipping over to it.

"B-but what about Sora? Aren't you worried about him being alright?" Luigi asked.

"Nah, who needs him?" Toad spat, still remembering what had happened earlier. "We can find Mario ourselves, now c'mon!"

Upset to see Toad acting this way, Luigi didn't notice right away that something was smelling his shoes. Glancing down, he was startled to see a dog-like creature with reptilian features sniffing him. The dog stared right back up at him, equally surprised and dropping the block that was in its mouth.

"WAAAAH!" Luigi shouted, making the dog start barking and whining in panic. It zipped straight into the station that Toad was heading inside, the door opening on its own as the dog came through. Toad followed it out of sheer curiosity, but stopped in his tracks once he saw a man before him.

He appeared to be an elderly gentleman with grey hair, wearing a blue robe of some kind. He carried a walking stick in his hand, indicating that he had trouble moving easily due to his age. The older man just stared at Luigi and Toad, startled by their sudden appearance. Luigi gulped, while Toad tried to give a friendly wave.

_

"So what exactly are you two doing, if you don't mind me asking?" Sora questioned, following the duo closely.

"We're taking this Life Seed to someone we know," Jak explained, as they made their way up to a giant tree, "his younger self, to be more precise. You'll understand a bit more once we actually bring it to him in this forest."

Just like in Dream Land, Sora found himself awed by the scenery that was around him. It wasn't strangely colorful like Orange Ocean and Rainbow Resort, but all the plant life was calming. Birds were chirping, butterflies surrounded flowers. Jak didn't understand what Sora was so entranced by.

Approaching a short, older man that was meditating, Sora had to take a moment to process what he looked like. He had long ears and green skin, wore peculiar glasses and had an afro that had a log sticking through it. Yup, these characters were getting weirder and weirder so far.

"Samos told me to," Jak then corrected himself, "I mean, you told me to… or well, your older version, uh, whatever. We heard you needed the Life Seed." Handing the Life Seed over to the older man, Sora became even more confused as to what was going on, but found his attention grabbed by what was going on in the sky.

"Yes, its power will help me speak to the plants." The shorter man, known as Samos said, taking it.

"Uh, guys?" Sora said, noticing something flying towards them. "I think something is headed our way!"

Panicking, Samos got up. "Jak, protect me from these guards! I must ask the plants some vital questions about our future!"

"Krimzon Guards again? No problem." Readying his blaster, Jak turned around, only to see something else coming down instead, which surprised just about everyone. "What in the…!?"

Emblem Heartless, a Soldier kind, much like Sora had encountered before. Only difference was that these ones had wings, wore an aviator cap that had a propeller on the top, along with some goggles.

"Whoa, those are not Krimzon Guards!" Daxter exclaimed, backing away. Sora was irritated at the fact that once again, the Heartless had followed him, but he was told that this would happen and should expect it by now.

Taking out his Keyblade, Sora looked determined to protect Samos, even if he knew nothing about what was going on. The Air Soldier was a bit out of reach, which while not a problem for Jak, who had a long-ranged weapon, Sora had to strategize on what he should do to get the Heartless to come down. Perhaps some fire magic would do the trick. Doing just that, Sora knocked one of the Heartless out of the air and onto the ground, then proceeded to finish it off.

As both Jak and Sora began disposing of the Heartless using their own methods, Daxter cheered them on, and Samos focused on his newly gained powers. Before long, all of the Heartless around them were disposed of, no longer coming down to fight Sora.

Once it was over, Sora and Jak turned their attention back to Samos, who gazed deeply into the seed that was in his hands. "The Life Seed gave me a terrible vision," Samos muttered, "the Baron is planning to destroy the Precursor Stone! He aims to crack it open somehow! If he does this, the energy released will be beyond comprehension." He then took a moment to pause, as if he was unsettled by something else. "Black creatures… they are trying to enter a hole of some kind. The plants cry out for protection from both sides, as the world could be—"

"Whoa, hold it, I understood what you said about Baron Praxis, but… black things? As in, those things we just fought?" Jak asked. Samos nodded in response. "Oh great. First the Krimzon Guard, then Metal Heads, now these black creatures? This can't get any worse."

Samos then turned his attention to Sora. "Young man, are you here to help stop those black creatures?" Sora flinched as he mentioned it, trying to not reveal anything. "Jak, the plants are telling me that you must bring this young man to his friends. He shall be of great aid to you in stopping those creatures and the baron. You three must stop this, however you can!"

"Gimme a break," Jak sighed, knowing that this was only going to get a lot stressful from here on out. "Sora, was it? C'mon, we're gonna head back to the power station. It's right in Haven City. Stick close to us, okay?"

Nodding, Sora did exactly that. "Who exactly is this baron, if I may ask?"

"Baron Praxis is the dictator that rules Haven City," Jak spat, irritated by the very thought of Praxis. "Let's just say that the guy kept me locked up for a while, and I'm not too happy about what he did to me," Jak grumbled, clenching his fist. "The guy thinks he's some kind of savior by doing whatever it takes to get rid of the Metal Heads. But he's a power hungry—"

"Hey now, careful Jak, watch your language in front of the kiddo!" Daxter exclaimed. "Yeah, he's a bad dude. Injected my buddy Jak with some Dark Eco for some kind of weapon project. Thankfully, I broke him out before it could get any worse."

"Wow, that… sounds pretty bad." Sora replied, now understanding why Jak seemed a bit irritable. He would be in a bad mood also if he was locked up and used as a test subject. However, Sora could only wonder how this Praxis character would react around the Heartless. Would he fight back, like he was with the Metal Heads as Jak stated?

Sora was starting to worry about Toad and Luigi— well, mainly Luigi, since he was still a bit upset at how hasty Toad was earlier. Luigi would probably be terrified if he saw one of those Metal Heads, especially if he was on his own.

Once Sora and Jak cleared some Heartless that were just outside of the power station, they entered. Jak had expected to see Vin upon walking inside, but instead, was met with Kor, the Crocadog, and two characters he had never seen before.

"Sora!" Luigi cried out.

"Toad! Luigi!" Sora exclaimed, approaching the two. Toad and Sora prepared to happily shake hands, but then recalled the earlier event, and turned away from each other, pouting, much to Luigi's dismay.

"Well this suddenly turned into a party," Daxter said, "Kor, mind telling us what's been happening?"

"The baron," the older man spoke in a distressed tone, "he stole the Precursor Stone right out from under us, after all of our planning and hard work, Torn ended up betraying the cause!… We must get that stone back!"

"We'll work on it," Jak replied, "I just gotta ask, who are these two, and where did they come from?"

"The mutt found them after the boy had been taken away. I have informed them of Baron Praxis and his plots, and have decided to join us in our cause. We are trying to think of what the baron's next move may be."

"If I had this stone and all its power, I would use it to find my brother," Luigi mumbled to himself.

"You four," Kor, the older man spoke, "you must stop the baron, no matter what it takes."

"I think I already got an idea," Jak said with a smirk, "c'mon you three, we're gonna meet up with a friend. We're going to get into the Haven Palace, where hopefully, we can find a way to keep the baron from destroying the Precursor Stone. Best case scenario, those black creatures don't show up again."

With that, they all departed, only Kor and the Crocadog remaining. Kor just stood there, pondering the last thing that Jak had mentioned. "Black creatures?" He murmured, curious as to what he was talking about.

"Oh, by the way Sora, look at what I found in here!" Luigi chirped, handing over some more Pokéballs.

Floatzel, Sneasel, Dewott, and a Gummi block of some kind. It was good to know that unlike Toad, Luigi still had Sora's back on everything. Sora could even hear Toad grumbling in disapproval at what Luigi was doing.

_

As Sora and his two friends followed where Jak may have headed to in Haven City, they found themselves inside of a garage. Jak was not present, and neither was Daxter, but a girl with blue-green hair and pointed ears was standing there, along with what appeared to be an older version of Samos, the man Sora had met earlier.

"Excuse me, uh," Sora hesitated, finding this girl's presence to be… rather strange, if not almost familiar. It made him partly remember that one weird dream he had, even though these things should not have been connected at all. "Are you a friend of Jak's? Do you know where he went just now?" Sora asked.

Turning to face him, the girl smiled. "You just missed him. Jak and Daxter are entering the Class 1 Race right now. You three must be the tag-alongs that Jak had mentioned." Sora wasn't sure if Jak meant that in a bad way or not, but didn't have time to think it over as the girl held out her hand. "Name's Keira! You must be Sora, right? Who are your two other friends here?"

"Luigi and Toad," Sora answered, "Keira, did you ever meet anyone my age by chance? A boy and a girl, Riku and Kairi?" Toad once again, grunted in annoyance, which Sora tried to ignore.

"Nope, can't say I have, sorry." Keira replied, "Are you going to be helping Jak retrieve the Heart of Mar, so I can finish building this Rift Rider?" She directed Sora's attention to the machine behind her, which appeared to be a strange vehicle of some sort.

"I uh, suppose we are, yeah. I don't see why not!" The truth was that Sora had no idea what this Rift Rider was, or what it did, but he was willing to help out if it meant he would eventually find the keyhole to this world and close it. "You said Jak was in a race, do you know where we could catch up with him?"

"Just make your way down through to the Mar Memorial Stadium, you'll find where the race is starting! But be careful though," Keira advised, "for some reason the Haven citizens have gotten more frightened recently. I asked Jak if he was scaring them with his Morph Gun, but it doesn't seem to be the case."

Heartless? That was probably what was going on. Sora had to hurry, otherwise the Heartless could potentially ruin the Class 1 Race. "Thanks, I'll be careful. C'mon guys!"

_

It took slaying more of those Air Soldier Heartless, but the path was clear enough for Sora, Luigi, and Toad. He ran to the stadium where the Class 1 Race was taking place, pushing through a crowd of people in the audience, just to get a good look at what was going on.

Sora saw Jak and Daxter race past an irritated man, who had orange hair and tattoos covering parts of his face. The man, in fury, tried to catch up to them on his Air Racer, but to no avail. Jak found himself boosting far away from the man, hitting each sharp turn perfectly, Jak didn't slow down for a minute. He was on the final lap already, and there was no stopping him. Sora could feel how intense it was, even though he wasn't even participating.

Once Jak crossed the checkered line, it was all over. He jumped out of the Air Racer along with Daxter, his eyes on the prize than came down. A thick device of some kind, which Sora couldn't really get a good look at. Looking up, Jak waved to Sora and his friends in the crowd, noticing they were there. "Thank you," Daxter shouted, "thank you very much! I just love the public!"

Sora snickered, but then found his attention drawn to a platforming, hovering down to Jak and Daxter. "Behind you!" Sora yelled, getting Jak's attention.

"A brave man of the people," the muscular man on the platform spoke. His mere presence immediately made Jak's blood start to boil, which Sora noticed just by the look in Jak's eyes. "Who is this worthy opponent? In my world, good men are either bought, or broken." The man then smiled, his words making Jak grind his teeth together. "So which is it going to be?"

Finally, Jak turned around, while Sora and his friends jumped out of the audience, keeping a safe distance in case anything happened. "Surprise, Baron Praxis. Good to see you again." Jak said, glaring at the man.

"What?" The baron exclaimed, startled at who was before him.

"Just come a little closer." Jak beckoned, hints of venom in his voice. "We need to talk."

"You fool… you don't get it, do you? It's over, Jak!" The baron shouted. During all of this, Sora heard a noise from afar on the race tracks. It was a bit of a distance, but Sora could see that it was the man from before, still pursuing Jak, even though he had lost. "This war is mine, and in war, people die!" The two were practically staring each other down, until the baron finally gave orders to the two Krimzon Guards standing next to him. "Kill him!"

Sora could see the Air Racer coming close, and made his move, even if it seemed like Jak was already doomed from the Krimzon Guards aiming at him. "Jak, watch out!" He yelled, running towards the two, startling Baron Praxis further.

"What? Whose brat is this? What is he doing?" Baron Praxis was prepared to order fire on Sora as well, until he saw the Krimzon Guard Commander; Erol, headed straight in their direction.

"I win, Jak!" Erol grunted, preparing to run Jak down with his Air Racer.

Acting as fast as he could, Sora pushed Jak away from the race course, allowing Erol to zip right past him. "Luigi, Toad, hurry up and let's get out of here!" Sora called out to them, making the two jump out of the audience and start running.

Erol didn't have time to look back as he crashed into several barrels of Dark Eco, exploding into a foggy mess on impact. Sora and the others used this distraction to get away from the baron. Jak assumed that Baron Praxis would have commanded the Krimzon Guard to go after them, but so far, it seemed like a clean getaway.

"We need to hurry! If Praxis cracks open the Percursor Stone, everything and everyone will be destroyed!" Sora and the others didn't like the sound of that. They were to hoof it double-time when a gun was suddenly pointed at them. "What are you doing? My father is trying to stop the Metalheads once and for all!"

A woman in a Krimzon Guard uniform was the one holding the gun, and she didn't look happy. But that wasn't the biggest shock.  
"Father?!"  
"Later. Ashelin, if your father cracks the Stone, we all die!"  
"Not so hard, huh? Even I can figure this one out!"  
"Don't move. Come in, Vin?"  
"Yeah?"  
Ashelin pulled out a communicator, contacting someone who sounded a bit scared.  
"You know all about the Percursor Stone, right? What would happen if it was cracked open?"  
"Well, let's see…...It would destroy everything."  
"Everything?!"  
"Yeah, everything, now if you don't mind, I'm going to throw up."

Ashelin turned off the communicator and turned back to Jak. "My father was working with Krew to build a weapon that can crack open the Stone. Here is my security pass to the weapons factory. And this conversation didn't happen." As Ashelin walked off, Jak and Daxter started to head towards the factory. Sora turned to Luigi and Toad. "We have to help them."  
"Why? This isn't our problem. ANd it's your fault we're in this mess. So why should we even listen to you?"  
"Because it's the right thing to do, and they don't know how to deal with the Heartless, but we do. We can help, and maybe find more clues to find our friends. Come on!" Sora ran after Jak before Toad could say any more. That was when Luigi spoke up. "Y-y-y-you know, 'everything' being destroyed could-a mean us too." Toad just grumbled as he followed Sora.

_

The way to the factory was fairly easy. Jak took care of the Krimzon Guards while Sora and co. took care of the Heartless. When they finally reached where the weapon was stored, a rather strange sight greeted them. "I knew you were special when I first saw you Jak, and I commend you on getting this far." A really fat man in a hoverchair came floating down, a slight rasp in his voice. Sora thought that this must be Krew.

"I just love weapons, Jak. How they look, how the feel, even how they smell."  
"You need some serious help."  
"My favorite was the one Mar built to destroy the Metalheads, but he died before he could use it. But I have a new favorite now, this bomb that is my masterpiece, and is powerful enough to crack open the Percursor Stone! When Baron Praxis arrives with the Stone, we'll hide it in a shipment of Eco for the Metalheads, ending them all! Now take this gun upgrade, and forget what you saw here."  
"Not this time, I'm through being your hired gun!"  
"So it's war, eh? So be it!"  
"Oh come on, how tough can a fat guy who can't even walk be?"  
Toad got his answer when Krew started firing lasers at him. Toad didn't have time to think until he felt himself getting pushed out of the way. He looked up in surprise to see that Sora saved him, but then realized that talking would have to wait we he saw what got everyone's attention. "Oh? My new friend, yes. He's a joy to have around, especially when crushing my enemies."

Appearing next to Krew was a giant Heartless that resembled a chameleon, fading in and out of sight. Sora looked over at Jak, with uncertainty in his eyes on what to do against that thing, and Daxter, who looked like he was about to faint. Sora got into a battle stance, knowing this was going to be one of their toughest battles yet.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 4  
Hidden History

The chameleon Heartless, better known as the Stealth Sneak, was definitely going to prove to be a difficult task since it faded in and out of sight. Several green, holographic clones were created in Krew's image. "If you haven't noticed, I have even more friends besides this lizard, Jak… oh, multiple me, how delightful." Krew laughed, flying away from the scene. Jak took aim at Krew's clones while Sora focused on the Stealth Sneak.

The holographic copies of Krew were destroyed with little effort on Jak's part, like they were just a mere distraction. The Stealth Sneak lowered its head, preparing to lunge at Sora while camouflaged. Sora seeing its shadow shifting back, jumped away from the Stealth Sneak, retaliating with swipes from his Keyblade.

"I'll keep trying to get rid of this guy, Jak," Sora said, "you, Toad, and Luigi take out those clones to lure Krew back here."

"No way," Toad retorted, "I'm helping you!"  
"What? But why?"

"Because for one thing, I wanna return the favor for you getting me out of that shot minutes ago," Toad explained, "secondly, we're friends, it's stupid to hold a grudge at a time like this!"

Luigi couldn't help but sigh in annoyance, knowing that Toad was holding back on an apology. Sora agreed with Toad on that one though, they had to worry about defeating Krew, and making sure that this Heartless went away.

Soon, the clones were all dispatched and the Stealth Sneak crawled away back to Krew, who had come out of his hiding spot, firing lasers at the group of friends. "You fools will not win," Krew said, mockingly. Jak began firing his weapons, Luigi began using magic, while both Sora and Toad attacked Krew from behind, until the Stealth Sneak interrupted them with a kick from its back legs.

Taking enough damage, Krew left the scene once more, dropping the clones off as he made an exit. Things were the same as before, except the clones were more aggressive, and now the Stealth Sneak stood up, fully visible, firing lasers from its eyes, which homed in on Sora. It was a rather slow attack, which gave Sora plenty of time to react to it, avoiding whatever he could.

"This guy is a coward, not facing us head-on and such." Luigi murmured, "I know that's-a hypocritical of me to say, but—"

"Hey now, you're not the one intentionally running off and leaving jobs to us, now are you?" Jak replied. "You're here, actively helping. Don't compare yourself to someone like Krew." Blasting the last of the clones, Jak then waited for Krew to arrive, which he did, trying to ambush Jak while he wasn't looking.

"Jak, watch out!" Sora shouted, jumping at Krew with his keyblade, just before Krew could start firing.

"See what Jak meant, green-guy?" Daxter laughed. "That's a cowardly stunt!"

"You keep referring to me as such, when really," Krew spoke, "I just know it's a heavy risk to take on all of you at the same time. Being smart about your opponents is much different than being afraid."

"Just shut up," Jak spat, firing at him. Krew began retreating once more, becoming irritated at how badly this was going. He could just leave, and let the Stealth Sneak do its work, but it couldn't really be completely relied on, considering the numbers against it. The Stealth Sneak was expendable like anything else probably, but better to give it an advantage.

"Hey, get back here!" Toad yelled, chasing after Krew, nearly falling off of the platform they were standing on. He backed away, nearly getting tackled by the Stealth Sneak, which made itself seen to everyone yet again.

Just like before, the Stealth Sneak got on its hind legs, clapping its hands together and unleashing a sudden blast of energy. It had gone so quickly, that Sora and Jak ended up taking the hits, as they did not expect it to be so fast. "A-almost done," Luigi stammered, using more ice spells on the holograms.

Sora then started thinking what would happen if Krew was removed from the scene before this Heartless. Would it keep going? Or would it be unable to take anymore orders from its master? It might be a big help to Jak, and everyone else to just defeat Krew, so that way he would at least stop dispensing these obnoxious holograms. Only problem would be, that this Heartless was very protective.

"Toad, I need you to distract that lizard!" Sora exclaimed. "If we get rid of Krew first, he won't bring in anymore of those holograms, and we can focus on it!"

Nodding in response, Toad did exactly that, running in front of the Stealth Sneak and taunting it, even getting some hits in to frustrate the Heartless further. Krew had returned at the perfect moment, as Sora tossed a fire spell at him, followed by Luigi and Jak coming in for the finishers.

"And the challenger is down for the count!" Daxter shouted.

The hovering machine which supported Krew began to topple over. The lasers began to malfunction, preventing him from using it anymore. "Think it's too late to give him the notice?" Jak commented, scooping up the Heart of Mar.

All Krew could do was chuckle, as a strange noise began coming from the stored weapon; the piercer bomb. Just before he could continue laughing, the Stealth Sneak appeared close to him, covered in sparks, phasing in and out of existence. Krew turned around, and looked at the Heartless. His eyes widened in horror, as he realized the beast was no longer stable, and collapsed onto the immobile Krew, crushing him to death with its weight.

"We need to get out of here!" Luigi panicked, covering his eyes with his hat.

Jak then heard the noise of something flying towards them, and looked up. "Ashelin?"

The woman from earlier had returned, urging the group to get inside of the vehicle. "We're out of here!" Jak, Daxter, Sora, Luigi, and Toad immediately joined her, watching as a heart emblem came out of the Stealth Sneak for a mere second before they flew far, far away from the inevitable explosion.

It was strange to Sora, how that Heartless was being used, but immediately became unstable at such a sudden moment. Was this normal?

Once they all landed back in the city, Ashelin turned her attention to the group. "You guys find my father, I'll take the Heart of Mar to Keira." She then lowered her head, disappointed in her father's actions, no doubt. "The most I can tell you is that I got intel about something going on at the Underport, one of Krew's wastelanders is down there. Something about using Mar's ruby key to open a door."

With that last statement, she took off, leaving Jak surprised. "Sig?" He muttered out loud. "Come on you guys, we need to get to the Underport, right now." Before Sora could follow him though, he began hearing sounds, coming from a communicator, which was hovering close to him.

"The Shield Wall is down!" Shouted a voice, the same frightened one that spoke to Ashelin earlier. "I repeat, the Shield Wall is down! Sabotage! Metal Heads are at the door! They're breaking through! There's too many of them—AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sora held his ears, the screams making the message crackle before cutting out, leaving him, Toad, and Luigi to stare at the communicator. "Hey, Jak!" Sora exclaimed, only to see that Jak had ran far ahead of them. He hoped that whoever was on the other end of that message was alright, though that seemed highly unlikely.

aking an elevator down below the port of Haven City, Jak immediately took note of all of the holes that had been busted throughout the ruins. Sora's best guess that this was the cause of the Heartless, because so many of them were crawling around, this time with bodies strikingly similar to those of an insect. "Metal Heads?" Jak asked himself, getting a better look at them from afar. "No. It's more like a fusion of Metal Heads and those black things. Just perfect, they're eating through the Underport."

Grumbling in irritation, Jak began firing at them, he and Sora clearing the way of the Black Heads— he couldn't think of a better name for them— with the help of his friends. As opposed to having a strange gem in their heads like most Metal Heads would, the Black Heads merely had the emblem of a Heartless on their bodies.

"Sig's gotta be around here somewhere," Daxter darted his eyes around, then tapped Jak on the shoulder, pointing to an entrance. Jak and Sora quickly went in that direction, shaking off the Black Heads as they moved.

A tall man with dark skin and long ears was firing his own blaster at the Black Heads. One thing that Sora took note of that made him stand out was the synthetic right eye he had. He almost wanted to ask about it, but now definitely wasn't the time for it. "Hey there, tough guy." Jak greeted with a wave.

Jak barely even got to finish his sentence as the man immediately pointed his weapon and fired, clearly startled by their entrance. Jak ducked as fast as possible, pushing Sora down to the ground in the process, so none of them would get killed. "Get your skinny ass over here and— who the heck are these guys!? Jak, you can't just bring in some kids to help!"

"Hey!" Sora objected.  
"I'm no kid!" Toad snapped.

"Relax Sig, they've been capable help so far. What happened though?" Jak questioned.

"I was set up," Sig grunted, "Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that Ruby Key you found. But when I did, Metal Heads came streaming in, along with some weird, new specie of them, all from some passage outside the city walls, like they were waiting— There's one!" Sig immediately opened fire on the Black Head that was sneaking up on Luigi, making the plumber scream in terror.

"Krew is, uh, well, we took care of him." Sora explained.

"Took care of him? He's lucky, 'cause he would not want me to catch him alive!" Sig spat.

"Geez, how much did the Metal Heads offer for Krew to betray the whole darn city like this?" Daxter wondered, his ears perking up. "Say, did you hear something just now?"

The wall close to them started cracking, crumbling apart to chunks of stone. Bursting through was a large Metal Head; a Metal-pede to be exact, releasing a loud roar. Everyone was taken aback, Toad prepared for a battle, but Sig pulled him away. "Attacking this one will only get it mad, let's get out of here!" Rather than forcing Toad to turn around, Sig just picked him up and slung him over his shoulder, careful not to poke Toad with the spikes that were on his shoulder plates.

"Hey!" Toad objected. "Sora, Luigi, do something!"  
"N-no offense Toad, but I think he's right!" Luigi replied, making a run for it.

Sora and Jak soon did the same, all six of them running as fast as they could from the Metal-pede, which closed its pinchers every now and then. "Move your butts, come on!" Sig called out, jumping over lasers while carrying Toad. Sora tried to time himself carefully, knowing that if he took too long, the Metal-pede would eat him, but if he wasn't cautious, he would burn himself.

Successfully hopping over the lasers, Sora found himself staring at platforms that were moving in and out of the wall. He swallowed hard, dreading whatever could have been below. He noticed how Luigi had been doing rather well so far, jumping up really high, as if he had prior experience. He definitely had done a lot of running for certain, but seeing him flutter his legs around as he jumped was… interesting, to say the least.

Eventually, the Metal-pede wasn't able to keep up it seemed. "Let's go!" Jak shouted, "We're almost at the elevator!" Sig and Sora looked behind them as they kept running, noticing how it got quiet, and began to slow down. The Metal-pede was no longer tailing them, much to their relief.

"Did you have to carry me the whole way!?" Toad complained wriggling out of Sig's grip.

"Toad, in all fairness," Luigi panted, trying to catch his breath, "you may be quick, but you're not the best at jumping like Mario and I, no offense or anything like that! You're stronger and aren't slippery like I am at least, but—"

"Yeah, yeah," Toad sighed, "jumping is my weak point compared to you. Even the princess can make her jumps better than I can. I just don't like being treated like a defenseless kid!"

This was something Sora never knew until now. That explained why Luigi's movements were so odd, and why in battles, Toad would often zip around opponents so quickly. It was fascinating to know that they had their little quirks. Meanwhile, Sora himself felt like the jack of all trades, but master of none… which at often times, was better than just being good at one. It really made them feel like a balanced team more than ever.

"Looks like we finally lost him, chili peppers." Sig said with a smile. "Piece of cake, huh? Now you boys are real wastelanders! You three aren't half-bad either, got potential I'd say. I think it's time we take this fight to the Metal Head leader himself. What a trophy he'll make. Nothing will stop us, 'cause—"

Just before he could finish that sentence, the wall just above them began to crumble. The Metal-pede roared, emerging from the hole, spotting the escaped prey, then jumped down upon Sig. The platforming holding him collapsed, taking him and the Metal-pede down below, much to everyone's shock.

"Sig!" Jak and Daxter shouted.

There was a long pause, all five of them stared down into the abyss, unsure if Sig made it. Sora felt his stomach drop, while Luigi couldn't stop trembling.

"Uh," Toad began, "now what?"  
"Jak…"

Hearing the communicator go off, Sora turned his head, seeing the machine float near Jak. It was that same voice from before. The man on the other end was still alive?

"Vin?" Jak murmured, noting how his voice was going quiet.  
"Kor… construction site… ugh."

That was all that could be said. Sora recalled Kor, the older gentleman from earlier, while Jak just stared at the communicator, which immediately cut off like it did last time. "What the heck happened over there?"

"The uh, Shield Wall went down he said. Those Metal Heads… got to him." Sora admitted.

"What!?" Jak exclaimed. "Dammit! Kid, why didn't you say something earlier?"  
"I tried to," Sora replied, "but I didn't get a chance to with those Black Heads coming after us."

"Hey Jak, c'mon, don't blame the kiddo for this. I don't think we could have done much, sounded like it was far too late!"

It was a surprise to hear Daxter being a reasonable voice, something that Jak wasn't used to. "You're right, I… I'm sorry for yelling, okay Sora?" Jak sighed, shaking his head. "It's just bad enough I couldn't save Sig, but I didn't think that Vin was also in danger. It's even worse knowing that we were too late to begin with. It makes me feel like—"

"Cut it out, Jak!" Daxter retorted, giving him a noogie on the head. "You're just on edge lately from all the Dark Eco stuff and the Baron messing things up. We're both in this, and we're gonna fix it!"

"We're all going to help!" Sora added. "We can save Kor at the construction site at least, Vin was probably trying to tell us to go and help him out."

They were right. Jak knew there was no time to waste. They quickly made their way out of the Underport, and tried to think of what the fastest route to the Construction Site would be. Going back into Haven City, Jak, Sora, and friends headed for the industrial section.

e stood there, intently staring at the Black Heads. These beings were definitely not regular Metal Heads, but yet they still treated him like the others did. It was deeply fascinating to Kor, these creatures, which imitated the mannerisms of Metal Heads, were attracted to him. Gently touching one of the Black Heads, Kor began to grin.

Looking down at Baron Praxis and the Krimzon Guards which protected him, his smile widened even further. He could just end this right now, with no need for anymore confrontations. Nothing could even stop him, not even—

Jak? Kor glanced over to the ground, seeing Jak emerge, along with his newly-made friends. Kor couldn't help but growl, seeing Jak run straight at Baron Praxis and his men. It was now or never, so Kor decided it was a good time, and made a fast leap to where they were.

His presence was taken note of immediately, the Krimzon Guards all turned, and even Jak was startled that Kor just suddenly arrived.

"Kor? What's going on?"  
"You're alright!" Sora exclaimed.  
"Sheesh, don't break your hip on that fall!" Daxter commented.

"Enough chit-chat, I'm sure you already know what's going on." Kor muttered, approaching Jak and Daxter. "Deep down, in your darkest nightmares, we've met before, remember?" He questioned, baring his sharp teeth. "Everything is going better than I planned, and I won't let anyone mess it up."

Tossing his walking stick to the side, he began sprouting insect wings. His neck grew out, as did his arms, a tail covered in bulbs began to protrude from his backside.

"What!?" Sora yelled.  
"The Metal Head leader!?" Daxter screamed.  
"It was you this whole time?" Jak questioned. "That means—"

"I'm the one that sabotaged the Shield Wall, and led Vin to his demise." Kor laughed, finishing his transformation into a giant, winged Metal Head. "What of it? I was sick of his constantly whining and freaking out over my kind anyway!"

"You dirty backstabber," Jak spat, readying one of his guns, only to be pushed aside by Baron Praxis. "What the—"

"Without the Shield Wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I am at my full potential!" Kor then leaned over to Baron Praxis, voice booming. "Now give me the Precursor Stone!"

"If the city must die, then we all die!" Baron Praxis shouted, charging at Kor with a glowing blade in his hands. The Krimzon Guards follows, beginning to fire at Kor, but the Metal Head Leader didn't even need to do anything, as the Black Heads jumped out, immediately defending their master.

Sora's eyes widened at the realization that the Heartless were drawn to the darkness that was in Kor's being. "Imbeciles. I will find that stone, even if I have to crush this city, one brick at a time!" With one last laugh, Kor began to fly away from the scene. Sora stood there, absolutely shocked at the events that had just transpired.

He snapped out of it once a Black Head jumped at him, forcing Sora to actually do something about the Black Heads which had assaulted all of the Krimzon Guards. Disposing them didn't take long, but unfortunately, most of the Black Heads had already done their damage. Baron Praxis laid on the ground, fatally wounded by the Black Heads. Struggling to get up, the Baron clutched his chest.

"Jak," Baron Praxis muttered, "you are the supreme weapon, and I made you." Flipping himself over onto his back, the Baron took a remote out of his shirt pocket. "But still, any leader worth his salt has his back-up plan." He pressed the button, making a hatch open up. A large piercer bomb emerged, no different than the one seen in the battle against Krew. This one however, had a green stone at the top of it.

"Remember," the Baron coughed, "the first rule in making a bomb… is to make two." After those last words, the Baron ceased any further movement, and lied down with his eyes closed. Sora was absolutely mortified. He knew that the Baron was a bad person considering what Jak had told him, but to see him go like this just… didn't feel right. Jak wasn't even satisfied either it seemed.

"The Precursor Stone," Jak spoke, looking at the top of the piercer bomb. "Dax, you think you can pop it out of there without setting the bomb off?"

"Alright, fine, I'll go in!" Daxter complained, sliding into an opening that was on the piercer bomb. "Gimme a few seconds, I can figure this out on my own!"

Sora couldn't help but keep thinking about the Heartless which were under Kor's command.

"Darkness in people's hearts, that's what attracts them."

It was just as Cloud had told him. Kor's heart was full of darkness, even more than Krew. Baron Praxis probably was shrouded in darkness, but… something must have stood out for him to not encounter them even once. Perhaps the Baron had some redeeming qualities deep down, such as caring about his city and his citizens. Sora wouldn't really know though, he barely got to know the Baron, unlike Jak.

If none of this was the case, and Baron Praxis was rotten to the core, then it just meant Kor was much worse, playing everyone like a fiddle could have attracted the Heartless. "Sora? Are you alright?" Toad asked. "None of us three are used to seeing this, I know, but you gotta snap out of it! We're gonna catch up with that Kor guy, and beat him up, right?"

"To think we were hanging out with him not too long ago," Luigi shuddered.

"None of us would have known. I certainly didn't." Jak chimed in, waiting for Daxter. "You done with that? We don't have time to waste, Kor might be destroying the city as we know it!"

"Hold on, hold on!" Daxter retorted, rummaging around inside of the piercer bomb. Eventually, the Precursor Stone popped out like it was nothing. "There, happy now? Let's get outta here already, in case that bomb malfunctions and blows up on us without warning!"

"Where are we going?" Sora asked.

"To the Metal Head nest," Jak replied, "with the Shield Wall down and the Metal Heads running amuck, it's probably vulnerable to attack. From there, we can take Kor down along with the nest. I know it's risky, but it's the best shot we've got at stopping him and the Metal Heads."

Everything was hinging on whether or not this was successful, and the thought terrified Sora. If the plan didn't work out and Metal Heads— no, Black Heads consumed the city, they would get rid of Jak's world, and Sora would have no chances of finding out where Riku and Kairi went.

But if he got rid of Kor, then chances were, the influx of Metal Heads and Heartless would slow down tremendously.

"Right," Sora said, "let's go!"

They had to hurry, move as fast as they could to the Metal Head nest. Sora's legs felt like they would give out any moment from how tight his muscles were becoming. He had done a lot of running in his time, but Sora really felt like he was under a timer.

Sora could see a large machine. A weapon of some kind? It resembled a cannon made of metal, and appeared to be painted red in some places. "There it is, our key to busting the Metal Head nest," Jak said, while carrying the Precursor Stone. "Mar's gun."

"Mar's gun?" Sora inquired.

"Remember when Krew mentioned his favorite weapon? This is it." Jak explained. "Mar's gun was made to destroy the Metal Head nest a long time ago, with the power of the Precursor Stone, but it never got used. Not until now, anyway. Come on!" They all ran up towards the cannon, but halted when Jak began hearing a sound coming out of his pocket. "Sora, can you answer that for me? Got my hands full."

Taking out the device from Jak's pocket. A small communicator, completely different from the talk box that occasionally turned on around Jak. In fact, it looked just like the one Ashelin was holding when they encountered her. Chances were that she probably handed it over along with her security pass that one time.

"Jak, are you there?"

Speaking of which, there was Ashelin right there on the screen. "I'm here Ashelin. What is it?"

"Listen Jak, there isn't much hope right now. The Metal Heads are going to overwhelm us. I appreciate you pulling through, but you're better off going through the rift back to your time, so you can get away from this horrible place."

"What? No way!" Sora exclaimed.

"No way is right," Jak agreed, shoving the Precursor Stone into a circular opening. "Sorry Ashelin, but this place is worth fighting for. Right now, we're all in this together, and none of us are going to let those Metal Heads take over."

There was a brief moment before Ashelin started speaking again. "Alright then. We'll hold out for as long as we can. Good luck out there."

"Precursor Stone…" Sora muttered.  
"Gun," Toad continued.  
"Nest!" Jak finished.  
"Light 'er up, Louie!" Daxter shouted.

"Whaaa? Me?" Luigi stammered, "also it's Luigi!" Confused, Luigi stared at the buttons. Only a large, grey one stood out, so his best chance was pressing it.

Mar's gun immediate began charging up with energy from the Precursor Stone. A large, green blast of electricity fired straight at the nest, creating a giant opening. Luigi remained in a fetal position the entire time, afraid that he either screwed up or he would somehow get hurt in the blast.

"Alright, now let's go!" Toad cheered, getting far too excited as he got a head start to running inside the nest.

"We're really going in there?" Daxter asked.

"Everything is at risk, so yeah, we have to!" Sora replied, immediately following Toad. Jak joined them soon after, with Daxter hiding behind his shoulder. Per usual, Luigi was extremely hesitant to go into the Metal Head nest, but knew going with friends was better than staying outside by himself.

There were barely any Metal Heads present. If anything, there were more Heartless, which is what made Sora start to worry. "I don't get it," Jak grunted, taking his time against the Heartless. "It was one thing with the Black Heads or whatever you and your friends decided on calling them. But now we're seeing those things that attacked Samos too!"

Indeed, Air Soldiers were flying around the nest, which took everyone by surprise. "They're all attracted to Kor, just like how some of them were drawn to Krew." Jak looked back at Sora, who was trying to explain the situation without giving too much information. "They uh, well, they follow people who are corrupt. We've seen it happen before."

"So what you're gathering from this, is that Kor is even worse than Praxis if he's able to puppet these weird things?" Daxter asked.

"Yeah, I would say that's about righ— gah!" Sora yelped, getting hit by an Air Soldier which flew down at him. Luigi casted thunder from his fingertips, shocking the Air Soldier down to the ground. Sora lightly winced in pain, then noticed something while he was on his knees. Another set of Pokéballs, waiting to be snatched up. Crawling over with the pain still fresh on him, Sora grabbed them, wondering if he should send them out.

"Worth a shot," Sora mumbled, tossing one of the Pokéballs onto the ground. The Pokémon that was inside left Sora completely speechless. It appeared to be an insect with four legs, a pair of wings, and giant, bulging muscles that a man could only dream of having.

And immediately, it began flexing, as if to boast its image. Luigi, Toad, and Jak eventually found their attention grabbed by the strange Pokémon. Upon seeing the Heartless though, the bug Pokémon lunged at them, proceeding to beat the Heartless with its massive arms.

It was over so suddenly, that Sora barely had the time to process what he had just witnessed before the Pokémon returned to its ball. Taking out the Pokédex, Sora immediately tried to see what in the world he just sent out.

"Buzzwole," Sora muttered, glancing at the other two Pokéballs. "Durant and Beedrill. Right, well, at least the path is cleared for us." In the meantime, Toad began healing Sora, since they all needed to be prepared for what laid in the depths of the Metal Head nest.

Deep in the dark pits of the Metal Head nest. It appeared to be a dead end with a giant, fog-filled chasm at first, but if anything, Jak knew that Kor was hiding in there. "Come on out, coward. You've played us for fools long enough." Jak spat.

Rising from the chasm, Kor— Metal Kor to be precise— stared at Jak. "You've finally joined us. With the Precursor Stone, I see. Excellent." Metal Kor hummed, moving his tail out of the way, revealing a boy that was trapped in a forcefield of some sort. "Now this child shall play his final part in all of this."

Sora took a long look at the trapped boy, while Jak merely glared at Metal Kor. "Not this time!"

"Hey, Jak," Sora whispered, "this is kind of weird for me to say, I know, but that boy kind of looks like—"

"Him?" Metal Kor interrupted, able to hear Sora. "It is him. It's you, Jak!"

"What? How?" Jak questioned, eyes widening.

"You were hidden in the past on the hope that you would gain the skills to face me today. But since you were tainted with Dark Eco, the stone will no longer open for you. Ironic isn't it?" Laughing, Metal Kor began to slow down. "Your younger self, he's a pure gift… he can awaken the Precursor entity."

"That stone is—!?"

"The last egg," Metal Kor murmured, "Mar can't hide it anymore, it's mine."

"Huh? Kor, you're acting weird. I mean, you already were weird, and you became even weirder with the whole Metal Heads transformation, but you sound tired!" Daxter pointed out. "Actually, that just works in our favor, doesn't it? We can take him out while he's half-asleep!"

"Precursor life, I can finally feed on it… and then…"

There was a long pause. Black Heads began to surround Metal Kor, staring down at everyone who dared to intrude upon the nest. "Kor! Speak up, you disgusting freak! What are you going to do!?" Jak demanded answers, even if Metal Kor was suddenly giving him a silent treatment.

"It doesn't matter," Metal Kor said quietly, "I'll just tear open the Precursor Stone, and devour it."

It wasn't like before. Kor was previously vicious and irritated upon transforming, but now he calmed down, and it frightened Jak. He wasn't giving an emotional response to insults even. "No, Kor isn't himself anymore," Sora said, "he showed us his true colors earlier, but now they're completely gone."

"But why?" Jak inquired, "What caused—"

"Die." Metal Kor hissed. The lights from his eyes began to fade, the Black Heads jumped forth, quickly pursuing the five which opposing their leader. Jak figured that now wasn't a good time to ask any further questions, since they had to focus on getting rid of Metal Kor, but the Black Heads cut off his train of thought by tackling him to the ground.

Preparing to dispose of the Heartless, Sora was interrupted by a blast dark, violet energy, which sent the Black Heads flying. Jak emerged, his skin and hair had become pale, black horns grew out of his head, and his fingernails now appeared to be claws. His eyes had also become completely black, appearing just as empty as Metal Kor was right now.

"Jak!?" Sora exclaimed.

"Oh, he's still here, don't worry," Daxter explained, "remember when I mentioned how he was injected with a lot of Dark Eco for a weapon project? Yeah, this is the result of that. Sorry you had to see it at a time like this, kid!"

The battle started with black pods coming off of Metal Kor's back, hatching into more Black Heads. Jak immediately jumped for Black Heads, swinging at them mindlessly, having more physical strength than he did previously. Sora took note of how vulnerable Metal Kor himself appeared to be, what with how dreary he appeared currently. It was a bit of a distance, but Sora tried to cast a fire spell on Metal Kor, and Luigi did the same.

Metal Kor winced, but still did not have any reaction to what was going on at all. The Black Heads kept coming, Toad was trying to break the pods ahead of time so none of them hatched and Jak was on full offense. It was best to just go through without any distractions with how many Black Heads there were, so Sora attempted to get rid of some of them also.

"Alright, game plan from now on! Toad, you and Luigi will break whatever eggs are left," Sora explained, turning to the irritated Jak. "We're going to try and get Kor down, with no distractions! Okay?"

"You got it!" Toad cheered.  
"Let's-a go!" Luigi shouted, shedding whatever fears he had previously.

Jak tried to keep the Dark Eco under control, aiming his blaster straight at Metal Kor. "Sora, watch for his head! I think he's starting to fight back!" Daxter yelled over to the boy, who soon saw what Daxter was talking about. The skull gem in Metal Kor's head began to glow, firing a violet blast of energy, which had a rather large radius. Sora was lucky enough to not get caught in it, but Jak wasn't as lucky, getting hit by the explosion.

Admittedly, Jak was getting a bit reckless right now, but only because he was so ticked off. He kept firing without any distractions, and Sora soon found himself running low on magic. "Shoot, I'm out of fuel!"

A small, blue cube was tossed in Sora's direction, much to his surprise. Turning around, Sora saw it was from Toad. "Use this Ether, quick!" He exclaimed, going back to disposing the pods.

Opening the cube and staring at the contents, Sora was puzzled. It had a shining blue color, almost like a light, but it seemed to be a liquid. Unsure what he should do, Sora drank it in a whole gulp, feeling his power replenish.

Back into action, Sora unleashed another fire spell on Metal Kor, who was already at odds with Jak. He began to swing around after being hit, mildly frustrated from taking so much damage, but not enough to express outright agitation.

Enough was enough, Metal Kor launched his body at Jak and Sora, staring down right at them with his cold eyes. "We got him on the ropes, he's not going to send out those pods anymore. He's gonna try the dirty work himself!" Jak growled, preparing for things to become more complicated. "Got a plan for this one, kid?"

"Uh, yeah," Sora said, gulping at Metal Kor, who was looming over him. "We start moving, that's what!" Right after Sora suggested that, Metal Kor fired three blasts at the group, but thankfully with the advice taken, none of them were harmed.

Following up on that, Metal Kor attempted to have his enemies submit to a shockwave. Jak jumped into the air, and spun around, hoping that he didn't have to tell the other to follow his lead. Luigi managed to do it so easily, Sora had a bit of difficulty, but made it, while Toad simply ran and jumped over it. "Speed over height, whew!" Toad sighed.

Turning into his dark form, Jak lunged at Metal Kor, and slammed his fist into the ground, creating a shockwave of his own. "Eat this, Kor!" Jak hissed, hoping to do a significant amount of damage. Metal Kor drew back, raising one of his hands to swipe Jak out of the way.

Sora meanwhile, was attempting to sneak up on Metal Kor from behind, hoping that he wouldn't be trying to swing his tail around at the very least. Jumping into the air, Sora began slicing at Metal Kor with the Keyblade. It definitely got a reaction out of him, as Metal Kor turned slightly, chasing after Sora next.

"Oh no you don't! Thunder!" Luigi yelled, shocking Metal Kor from afar. Toad was focused on healing Jak, but knew to instantly jump in and help once he was finished. Jak knew he had to do the same, without his huge boost of Dark Eco. They were so close, with how much damage Metal Kor had taken from all sides.

Metal Kor lowered his head, preparing to fire another blast of energy. Sora didn't care though, he just wanted this done with. The skull gem was glowing, it could kill at any second, but Sora jumped up and made his shot count.

"Take this!" He yelled, swinging his Keyblade at Metal Kor's head, cutting the skull gem multiple times. The color was notably dark, akin to that of a Heartless— the Black Heads if one wanted to make a more fair comparison.

The light from Metal Kor's skull gem faded entirely after being struck. His body began to slump down. Sora landed on the ground, rather confused. Was that a weak point? A source of life? Jak seemed equally surprised, running up to Metal Kor and aiming his blast, just to make sure that was really the end.

Metal Kor twitched, trying to spread his wings out, discarding of all the black pods that were on his backside. He struggled to move, and couldn't feel anything. No fear, anger, or sadness over the fact he was losing this battle. Kor couldn't feel anything but pain, and it clouded his judgment on what the proper action should be.

He continued stumbling for a good minute, until Metal Kor began flying. He had to get out, and there was a Rift Gate right there in his lair. He would leave, and let the world fall on itself. The stuff about the Precursor Stone didn't matter anymore, all he wanted was—

ZAP!

That was all that could be heard, once Metal Kor accidentally collided with the Rift Gate. His entire body exploded from the shock, his head dropping to the ground. Sora looked at the blackened skull gem one last time, watching the darkness slowly fade away from it.

The small boy, free from the forcefield around him, began to slowly move over to the Precursor Stone without anyone noticing. "He really had no heart, and couldn't make rational decisions anymore," Sora said to himself, "up until he came into contact with them and revealed himself, he had his emotions, but then…"

"I don't get it myself really, but I think we got other things to worry about right now!" Toad exclaimed, seeing the boy make contact with the Precursor Stone. The moment that the boy merely tapped it, the Precursor Stone began shining.

A light blue spirit emerged, looking upon the heroes that had just freed him. "A Precursor," Jak muttered.

"It is finished," the Precursor spoke, "our ancient enemy is no more. Take hope, brave ones. For you, the terrible darkness shall be balanced with a brilliant light." The Precursor then glanced at Sora and his friends. "Bystanders who had kindly offered their help in a time of need, I thank you greatly. I shall lend you power, in hopes that you use it to work together even more."

Sora and Luigi then felt a gentle, blue light touch their body. They had no idea what just happened, but it seemed as if they had gained a new ability. Once the Precursor was finished, he ascended into the Rift Gate.

"So wait," Toad spoke, "why is this portal ring thing or whatever you guys call it in the Metal Head nest?"

"I'm glad you asked!"

Coming in with the rebuilt Rift Rider on a hot air balloon of some kind, was Keira, accompanied by both young and old Samos. "We finished rebuilding the Rift Rider just in time it seems! Dad said that the ring was here in the Metal Head nest. We had a feeling that we'd find you here in the end! Anyway, we don't have much time, so let's set the coordinates back to the village and—"

"Keira," Samos spoke, "I'm afraid the Rift Rider needs to be used to bring this boy, the younger Jak, to a place where he can grow up safe from harm. He needs to become old enough to complete the destiny he fulfilled today."

"Wait, what?" Toad questioned.  
"I'm confused, what's going on?" Luigi wondered.  
"Don't worry, the more you think about it, the more it'll hurt your heads." Daxter joked.

Before they knew it, young Samos and the child Jak were on the Rift Rider, preparing to take off into the gate. "You know, it's funny." Samos said, standing next to Jak. "The boy won't remember any of this."

"No," Jak replied, shaking his head. "I remember the… light." Shuddering all of the sudden, Jak turned to Sora, appearing to be a little uneasy.

"I say this calls for a celebration!" Daxter cheered. "How 'bout we meet you in Haven City again, Sora? Drop on over near the Naughty Ottsel and party with us!"

Soon, everyone prepared to leave the Metal Heads nest, but not before Sora saw a couple of Pokéballs, right in the chasm that Metal Kor had been hanging over.

Scizor, Mawile, and Genesect… what were these even doing inside of the Metal Head nest? Sora really had to stop questioning these things.

On their way back to Haven City, Jak and Sora suddenly stopped, hearing a voice call out to them.

"Hey you cherries!"  
"Sig!?" Jak exclaimed.

There he was, somehow alive after what had happened. Everyone was relieved to see his was safe after what had happened, although they were curious as to how that was the case. "I knew you were too tough for 'em, big guy!" Daxter said.

"Heard you managed to defeat the Metal Head leader. I never thought I would be thought I was be this proud, why it brings a tear to me eye! But enough about that," Sig then wiped one of his eyes, trying to mask the fact he was nearly tearing up. "While I fell down there in the Underport, I saw something rather fishy. A bright light, and those darker Metal Heads kept flocking towards it. I figured whatever it was they were after, they couldn't have it, so I tried to hold them off until they stopped coming!"

Something attracting Heartless? The keyhole! Sora had nearly forgotten about it!

"Wait, Sig!" Sora interjected. "I know this is sudden, but could you take us there to the Underport? It's important, there's something I need to do!"

Puzzled by the boy's sudden outburst, Sig looked over at Jak, who nodded. It was the least that Jak could do, considering how much Sora had been helping him, but almost never asking for anything in return. "Wait, seriously?" Daxter complained. "C'mon, we were gonna have a party at the saloon! Why do we gotta be held back like this!?"

"Dax, quit complaining. Sora was a huge help against Kor, he's not asking for much."

A second trip to the Underport, although it was far less hectic than the last one. It also helped that they took a different path this time. Sora could hear the sounds of water dripping throughout the area. It was so much more relaxing now that the Metal Heads were gone. A few remaining skull gems were scattered on the ground, indicating just how many Metal Heads were taken out. There was a red jewel as well, which Sora figured he should take with him. It reminded him of the yellow one which he had gotten from Professor Oak.

"Well, here we are!" Sig announced, stopping at door. "Those dark Metal Heads kept trying to get to this place, so like I said, I held them back and had to seal it off at one point. Thankfully they never broke through!"

Torches were lit along the walls, making quite a beautiful scene when combined with the sound of dropping water. "It's amazing," Luigi muttered to himself, "I can hear the water echoing even here!"

Sora only had to look straight ahead to see the keyhole, which was surrounded by a glowing light. "I don't get why this was here," Sig stated, "it looks almost like a key would… fit… inside." Feeling like an idiot, Sig looked over to Sora, who had his Keyblade ready.

"Earlier before we went back to Haven City, Samos mentioned to me how Kor had lost his heart, which clouded his vision." Jak spoke, turning to Sora. "Listen, uh, Sora, with what both you and Samos mentioned about Kor going too far off the deep end, it made me start thinking… I'm going to try to keep it control from now on. It's like Dax said, the Dark Eco kind of, you know, made me more violent. I don't want those black creatures coming for me, nor do I wanna become an empty shell like Kor suddenly did, so—"

"Hey, c'mon Jak, you didn't go that far off the deep end!" Daxter said, before thinking it over a little. "Well, okay, maybe there were a few times, but never on Kor's level!"

"Don't worry about it, Jak. Unlike Kor, you have friends in your heart, and you all care about each other!" Sora said with a smile. "They look like they'd pull you out of any kind of situation. Daxter, Keira… even us!"

Thinking it over, Jak remembered how Daxter was the one that saved him when he was being experimented on. How Keira was willing to rebuild a Rift Rider and forgive him. And how Sora, despite being just a mere bystander in all of this, put his life on the line just to help, even when Jak would have rather been left alone.

"Thanks, Sora." Jak said. "Riku and Kairi, those were the names of your two friends, right? Well, I know you'll find them."

"Speaking of which," Toad stammered, "Sora, I'm… I'm sorry! Okay?"  
"Huh?"  
"I was a such a jerk earlier when I said nothing special would be down here, then we fought and—"

"Toad," Sora laughed, "we got over it a long while ago! Remember? It's silly to hold a grudge, that's what you said! In any case, I'm sorry also if I was mean to you."

"Alright!" Luigi cheered. "All for one! Yahoo!" He then proceeded to hug Toad and Sora, the former who began wailing. "Eh!? Toad, what's-a wrong?"

"I-it's nothing, I just… waaaah! I'm sorry! I got us into so much trouble! I don't wanna lose my friends!"

"Hey Toad, no you didn't!" Sora was trying to reassure him, but this was a first. He had never seen Toad cry before, which indicated that he was probably soft under the thick, shield-carrying exterior.

Daxter couldn't help but start chuckling. "You sure he's not a kid?" Sig asked.

Sora didn't answer, and instead began pointing the Keyblade at the hole. Just like before, a beam went straight into the keyhole, leading to a clicking sound after a brief moment. A piece of Gummi also popped out of the Keyhole, which Sora didn't hesitate to pick up.

"Well, I'm not sure what that just did, but hey," Jak said with a shrug, "now that we're done here, wanna join us for the party, Sora?"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I need to find Riku and Kairi."

"Good point, probably won't find them by sticking around. Wish you the best of luck out there. Might as well mention this, but Keira found this strange aircraft made out of blocks, would it happen to be yours?"

Sora and his friends only smiled in response, glad to know that the Gummi Ship was safe after all of that.

As they were joyfully walking back to the Gummi Ship in Haven City, the group decided to have a conversation. Sora asked Luigi about his magic, to which the plumber replied with the fact it was less magic, and more like the power of flowers that he carried as power-ups. It was pretty fascinating, and it made Sora a little jealous, being that so far he only knew fire magic. Luigi reassured him that Sora would probably learn how to use ice and thunder too, but then immediately pleaded not to thrown to the side if Sora mastered elementals better than him.

At the same time, the two of them discovered they had learned healing powers from the Precursor, the same kind Toad would use. Toad showed relief over this, stating how it was becoming a pain to run around and heal his allies, when he would rather bash the faces of enemies with his shields. When Sora asked why he didn't have actual weapons, Toad replied with the face that defense can make great offense… Luigi just said that Toad didn't want his small frame to be harmed, much to Toad's dismay.

They were walking and laughing like they were good friends all over again. Even Jak and Daxter were pretty amused by the whole ordeal. However, as luck would have it, they were being watched…

"Hm," a man spoke, amused by what he and the others had just witnessed. "How peculiar, for the Heartless to be drawn to that world."

"It was that insect of a man which lured them," the man with grey hair spoke, holding a wine glass. "His lust for that stone and desire for the success of his race set the bait. He tried to use them like they were his own, that was a mistake."

The round man with the mustache began laughing. "Insect is right! He's the one that got squashed in the end, what a buffoon!"

Finally stepping out of the shadows, the first man revealed himself. Tall, having red hair and dark skin, there was an evil look in his eyes. "He was a brittle fool with a weak heart. It was easy for the Heartless to drag him down. That boy on the other hand though, is becoming a problem. He has found the Keyhole not in one, but two places. He's as bad as the one who keeps freeing the sages."

"Fret not," the grey-haired man replied, "it will take him far too long to find the rest. Along with that, is the fact he and his friends are unaware of our other plan."

"The one with the maidens, you mean?"  
"Correct, all of which have been falling into our hands… speaking of which."

Grinning, both men stared down at the image of the green-haired woman; Keira. A look of panic was on her face as she found herself cornered. No one was there, and she was alone, and immediately imprisoned.

"This is weird," Jak muttered, "I thought Keira would have been here. Where is she?"

"I don't think she could have gone far!" Daxter replied. "Listen, you three take care of yourselves, alright? I won't be around to stick up for ya once you're outta here, so don't get into trouble!"

"Don't worry about us, we'll be just fine!" Sora said, stepping into the Gummi Ship. Something was a little off about Keira disappearing to Jak though. Sure, she probably had to attend to something else, but it just didn't seem like she would up and leave the garage. Not unless she wanted to make it to the party before Jak.

"Take care, you three," Jak said, trying to hide his concern.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 5  
We Meet Again

Back on the Gummi Ship, Sora and the other were wondering where to go. "What do you guys-a think? Try looking for another world-a? Maybe one without-a Heartless?" Sora was looking at the Gummi Block they found. "How about we back to Traverse Town for a bit? We can see Cloud and the others have found anything about our friends, and maybe know something about this Gummi Block." All in agreement, they plotted their course for for their friends.

* * *

Back on Traverse Town, it was obvious that finding Cloud was going to be a little tough. He was laying low after the Heartless ambush, and there were still some stray Heartless roaming about. They eventually decided to follow where the Heartless appeared more, thinking that they were attracted to the Hearts of Cloud and the others. Their search led them to a secret waterway, where they saw Cloud and Tifa, and quickly began to compare notes.  
"So, you found the Keyhole."  
"Yeah. The Keyblade locked it automatically."  
"Good."  
"Every world among the stars has a Keyhole. And each leads to the heart of that world. There must be one in this town as well."  
"What do you mean?"  
"It was in Ansem's report."  
"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the core."  
"What happens to the world?"  
"In the end, it disappears."  
"WHAT?!"  
Sora, Toad, and Luigi couldn't believe their ears. Something so horrible being done so easily by an entity virtually limitless in number. Their shock was broken through by Cloud's next words.  
"That's why your key is so important."  
"Please lock the Keyholes. You're the only one who can."  
"I don't know….."  
The added weight of the situation and the responsibility on Sora's shoulders was starting to be a little too much. He didn't know where to begin. Luckily, Cloud offered some useful advice.  
"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well."  
"Yeah!"  
"We gotta find your friends.! And Mario!"  
"I guess you're right….okay!"  
Sora felt a little better at ease with Luigi and Toad's support, and prepared for the next step. He just had one more thing to talk about with Cloud. "This Gummi Block we found is a little different than the others we've seen. Do you know what it's for?" Cloud looked at it for a few seconds, trying to form an answer, but none came out. "I know someone who might." Everyone turned to Tifa. "I saw some people earlier who looked like engineers. They might know what it's for." Sora thanked Tifa and went back to the streets, thinking that he knows of the people she was talking about. But as soon as he walked out into the Third District, he saw a most welcome surprise.  
"Hey, Sora."  
"Riku!"  
Sora ran forward and grabbed both corners of Riku's mouth, pulling on them a little. "Hey, hey, cut it out!"  
"Sorry, but I'm not dreaming this time, am I?"  
"I hope not. It took forever to find you."  
"Wait, where's Kairi?"  
"She's not with you?"  
"No…."  
"Don't worry, I'm sure she's off the island too. We're finally free. She's probably looking for us right now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this -"  
Whoosh!  
Riku turned around to see a disappearing wisp of darkness, with Sora standing with the Keyblade. A Heartless was sneaking up behind him as he was talking, and Sora took it out quickly, surprising Riku. "Leave it to who?"  
"Sora, how did-?"  
"I've been looking for you and Kairi too. With their help."  
Sora gestured to Toad and Luigi. Riku looked at them, then back to Sora, with unease in his eyes. "Who are they?"  
"Ahem, my name is-"  
"We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you."  
"Really? Who would have known. I never would have guessed."  
"Oh, and um, Sora, he is-a, a-also the Keyblade Master."  
"Who would have thought it."  
"Hey, what's that mean?!"  
"So, this is called a Keyblade?"  
Sora turned and was in shock over Riku suddenly holding the Keyblade. He looked at his own hand to see it empty. "Hey, give it back!" Sora jumped forward to get the Keyblade, only to fall when Riku stepped out of the way. Amused, Riku tossed it back. "Catch." Catching it, Sora got back up. "So, you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"  
"No, he can't come."  
"What?!"  
"Forget it!"  
"Aw, come on, he's my friend!"  
"I don't care."  
Sora and Toad's argument was interrupted by Luigi pointing. "H-hey, he's-a gone!"  
"Huh? Riku!" Sora looked around, realizing that his friend had completely disappeared. "Nice going. Ah well, at least he's ok. And who knows? Maybe we'll run int Kairi soon." Sora started to walk off, Toad and Luigi following, not knowing they were being watched.

* * *

"This should be it." Sora led his friends into a room where he thought he would find the people who could help. His guess was good, as he found Fox McCloud, already talking with Cloud and Tifa. Fox turned as he heard them come in. "Oh hey, nice timing! We were comparing notes on what happened to our worlds and we think you need to hear this. Have you ever heard of Dracula?"  
"No."  
"Well, the word is he's currently in town."  
"Who is he?"  
"A vampire, man, a vampire."  
"He's the reason the Heartless are in town. Don't take him lightly."  
"He's been using the Heartless for years."  
"We lost our world, thanks to him."  
"Yeah, the same happened to us. One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world! We were barely able to escape that's to our ships."  
"And ours was taken nine years ago."  
"That's awful!"  
"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem. He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless."  
"He also made a report of his research. If we can find it, we can get one step closer to getting rid of the Heartless."  
"Where's the report?"  
"We don't know. It got scattered when our world was destroyed."  
"There a good chance that Dracula's got most of the pages."  
The situation was looking bleak.

* * *

Just outside the window of the room Sora was in, Riku was watching, along with a tall, white-haired man. "You see? While you toiled searching for him, he simply replaced you, and with companions he values more than you. You do not need that wretched boy. Come with me, and I shall help you find what you seek." Riku just continued to look at the scene in the room, resentment growing in his eyes.

* * *

Sora and Co. were walking through the First District. They gave the Gummi Block to Fox, who was going to see how it would work in their ship, so they were relaxing for a bit. They were passing a shop when they heard a commotion inside. Curious, they looked inside to see Snake arguing with a robot, while holding up a man with metallic-like clothing and a sword.  
"You piece of scrap! You were trying to tear up my friend, just to make a profit?!"  
"Hey, how was I supposed to know that he was alive, or even human? I just saw him lying in an alleyway and I thought, 'Hey! Free parts to sell!' And don't think you're not in in the wrong, either. Just look at what your friend did to Steve when he busted out the closet!" Everyone's attention was diverted to a masked man on the floor, raising his hand and giving a weak "heyyooo" before fainting. But the attention was grabbed back by the robot, whose voice sounded like autotune mixed with a screeching cat. "You have to pay for that broken door, see, or will someone have to get rough? Not me of course, I don't like pain."  
"What's going on?!"  
The arguing duo just realized that they were attracting an audience. Snake recognized them and explained what was happening. "I was looking for a place to get some more ammo and maybe some information, then I find that this scrap pile was going to tear my friend apart and sell his cybernetic parts!"  
"Hey, I am not a scrap pile, I am a CL4P-TP unit, but you can call me Claptrap. And with everyone losing homes and resources, it's finder keepers, you know? I just didn't know you could also find yourself, like that cyborg did. Too bad, he had some nice parts too."  
"But that doesn't mean you can just - hey!"  
Sora reached behind the desk, fending off Claptrap with his foot pulling out some familiar red and white balls. "You're also selling Pokemon?!" Claptrap got a bit more nervous as more glares were shot his way. "Uh, no, I was holding them for another underground dealer." A click was heard as Snake aimed his gun. "Quick Steve, out the escape hatch! AAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!" Claptrap ran, with a woozy Steve behind him, right out the front door, leaving everyone bewildered at what just happened. "Ok, I'm going to contact Otacon, tell him I found Raiden and see if he's found anything else. Then I'm going to find that tin can and see if we can…..work out a deal."  
"All right, we'll take these Pokemon back to Professor Oak. He'll be happy to see these."

* * *

"Oh, how wonderful! Rattata, Pidove, and Skitty, all back safe and sound!" Professor Oak was doing inventory on Sora's latest deposit. The Pokemon that Sora rescued were happy that he was here for a visit, and were saying hello. "It's good to see you guys too. Don't worry, we'll find the rest of your friends soon. I promise."  
"It makes me happy to hear you say that, Sora. Anyway, could you do me a favor?" Professor Oak handed Sora a data drive. "That contains data on the teleporter device I use for the Pokeballs you find. I've been exchanging information with Dr. Light and his teleporter in order to create a more efficient device. Could you deliver it to him please?" Sora nodded as he took the drive, heading for the small hidden house.

* * *

"Thank you, hopefully this is the last thing I need to complete those upgrades." As Dr. Light was tinkering away, Sora came across an unusual computer that wasn't there before. "Hey, what's this?" Dr. Light turned to were Sora was pointing. "Oh, that. It appeared in Traverse Town while you were gone, and it appears to contain an entire world inside. I've been trying to analyze it but the only way I've found to make contact with it is to go inside the world. I made a way to enter, but when I tried it, I was unable to go anywhere because of all the fighting that was going on. I had to leave quickly and haven't returned since."  
"What about if I try?" Dr. Light looked at Sora, bewildered. "I can handle it thanks to my experience with the Heartless, and if there's fighting going on, that must mean there's someone who needs help." Dr. Light was amazed. He didn't realize how much spirit Sora had. So much that he couldn't turn down his request. "All right, stand on that platform there, and I'll turn on the machine." Sora stepped on a small circle, with a light above him.  
"Ready Sora?"  
"Ready."  
Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  
A beam of light hit Sora as it slowly turned him into data, transporting him into the digital world. When the process was done, Dr. Light turned to look at the screen. "Good luck Sora."

* * *

Sora looked around. He was in one of the strangest places he's ever been. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but straight lines and 90 degree angles. It was if everything was made of squares and rectangles. He looked at himself as was surprised to see himself was made the same way. He was so busy wondering what happened to him he didn't notice the hissing happening behind him. "LOOK OUT!" Sora's thought were interrupted by a man shaped just like him tackling him over and down a bumpy hill, right before an explosion happened where he was just standing.  
"Are you ok?" Sora got up and dusted himself off. "Yes, I think. What was that? And who are you?" Sora got a good look at his rescuer. He was in the same simplistic design as Sora, and was even wearing simple-colored clothes. "I'm Steve, and you were about to be blown up a Creeper." That just got Sora even more confused.  
"A what?"  
"A Creeper. They go around blowing up anything that moves. You seriously don't know that?"  
"I'm not from around here, sorry."  
"Figures. When things from here go missing, things that aren't come here."  
"Missing?"  
"My weapons. They've disappeared, and without them I can't hold back the Hostile Mobs like that Creeper. I was about to set off a trap when I saw you about to go boom."  
"Can the trap still be sprung?"  
"If we're not too late."  
Steve started to head back up the hill. Sora followed in pursuit, wanting help in any way he can. They stopped overlooking a pit that had some peculiar people in it, looking like they were made entirely out of bones. Steve explained that they were Skeletons as he was placing down some blocks that were labeled TNT. "What's in the bucket?" Sora pointed to a bucket Steve was picking up, appearing to hold some red liquid. "Lava. You better start running." Sora was already off as Steve poured the lava near the furthest TNT block before running himself, before the TNT started flashing as the lava hit it.  
Just as they dove in a prepared pit, a huge explosion was heard, with a huge fireball and smoke clearly seen in the sky. Climbing out, Sora was shocked to see that the area where the Skeletons were was completely gone, a huge hole reaching out to the very edge of the pit they took cover in. "Whew, positioned it right." Sora turned to Steve. "Does this happen all time?"  
"Not really, it's a bit quieter when things are under control, but without my weapons, taking care of them is tougher. Not sure how much longer I'll last."  
"What if I found your weapons? Will that help?"  
"You'll do that?"  
"Yeah. If that's what's needed to calm this place down, then I'll find them. I promise."  
"Thanks, but where will you start? I been all over this place, and haven't found a thing."  
"I can think of other places to look." A circle of light appeared over Sora. "In fact, there's my way to one of those places. I'll be back, bye." As Sora disappeared, Steve could not believe that his life, of all people's, just got weirder.

* * *

"And that's the situation." Sora was explaining to Dr. Light what happened in the digital world. "Your story makes sense. While I was trying to analyze the data, there were indications that some bits were missing. It's possible that they were scattered just like us, finding their way to different worlds. I think I have a way to find them, but I'll need to work with Otacon to do so. Anyway, Fox contacted me and said that your ship is ready and that you can leave any time now."

"All right, thanks. I'm heading there now."  
That was when Sora suddenly stopped, remembering the red jewel he found in the Underport. Before doing anything else, he probably should bring it to Rosalina. It might be the same as before, with someone's heart being trapped within the jewel.  
It wouldn't take long, just speak with Rosalina, ask her to unleash whoever was trapped, then go on their way. "Uh, Rosalina?" Sora called out, walking over to the other side of the observatory. "Am I bothering you?"

Softly, she smiled at Sora. "Not at all, is there something you need?" Nodding, Sora took the red jewel out of his pocket, handing it to her. "Ah, I see, you found another lost heart, and wish for me to free them?"

"If it's possible, yeah." Just like last time, Rosalina waved her wand around the red jewel. A red, plasma-like substance surrounded the jewel as it began to glow. No different than last time, Sora was blinded by the light, which faded in less than a minute, and revealed a most peculiar character.

A person wearing a bulky, red suit of armor, having a cannon attached to their arm. They immediately began observing the area around them, before pointing the arm cannon at Sora, making him panic. "Tell me what's going on," a woman's voice demanded.

"Wha!?"  
"You have ten seconds to answer, I am not playing around. I was on a mission. What planet am I on?"  
"Oh my," Rosalina muttered, "miss, none of us mean you any harm. In fact, it was Sora here that saved you from being trapped."  
"Trapped?" The woman lowered her arm. "As in I was taken prisoner, and unaware of it?"

"You are not the only one in this situation, so to speak. Fret not, for I will explain it later. But you should be thanking Sora for bringing you here, miss…?"

Slowly trying to wrap her head around what was going on, the woman answered. "Samus Aran, bounty hunter."

"Miss Aran," Rosalina said with a smile, "I shall explain everything to you in due time. Miss Aran, Sora here is trying to save planets, so to speak. He found you lost on one, far away from here. He may require your aid if he so needs it. Since he had helped free you, would you be willing to return the favor?"

Pausing for a long while, Samus examined her surroundings again, mainly focused on Ash Ketchum, who was pestering Dr. Light. "I'll think about it after you elaborate on what's going on, and why a child has been saving planets if you're being truthful."

"Yeesh, someone's cranky." Toad grumbled.  
"W-well, maybe she's a little frightened," Luigi replied.  
After that, Sora and his friends finally left, so Rosalina could go over the circumstances with Samus.

* * *

Walking into the hanger, Sora saw Fox putting a few more adjustments to the engine. "And that should do it. I used the ship's radio to relay information to that Lombax back where Luigi and Toad are from and found out that the Gummi adds to the navigation, allowing the ship to find more ways to other worlds. It's fully installed, if you want to take it for a ride."

"Nice. With more places to find, we have a higher chance of finding our friends. You guys ready to go?"  
"Yes."  
"We were waiting for you."  
Sora did a quick glare at Toad, then started to climb into the cockpit. When everyone was ready, they punched in the new coordinates and set off for their next destination.

* * *

There was a grassy field. On one end stood a vast forest, and the one a large castle. And walking by the castle walls menacingly were two intimidating men. One had an elderly look with long white hair, the other wore armor over his large frame, his red hair short and his eyes filled with a cold, calculating mind. The white-haired one spoke first.  
"And the Keyhole?"  
"The Heartless are looking for it as we speak. They'll find it soon enough. All that's left is…."  
A pigman ran up to the one in armor. "We have looked everywhere, sire! The Princess is nowhere to be found!"  
"She's more trouble than she's worth."  
"You said you had things under control."  
"There are plenty of places for her to hide. But why worry about Princess Zelda? With or without her, this world will still be ours when we find the Keyhole."  
"We need all seven Princesses of Heart to open the final door. Any fewer is useless."  
"Well, if she is that important, we'll find her." The armored man turned, summoning armored Heartless to his side. "Find Zelda and bring her to me." The Heartless ran off with the pigman in pursuit. As the armored one walked off, the white-haired man spoke once more. "Do not steep too far into the darkness. The Heartless consume the careless."  
"Ha ha ha ha. Your concern is touching, but truly unnecessary."

As the armored one walked off, a woman in royal garb ducked back into her hiding place, frightened by what she just overheard. Using magic power to change her appearance, the woman quickly fled, waiting for the villains to leave, so she could exit without any detection.

* * *

When Sora arrived, he and his friends were just outside of a village, at the base of a rocky mountain. "Well, where do we start I wonder?" Sora said to himself, looking around. He didn't realize it, but he was being watched.

"Who goes there?" A masculine voice demanded to know.  
"Huh?"

Jumping in front of Sora, appeared to be a ninja-like character. Blonde hair and red eyes, a bit of muscle, face hidden behind bandages. The man, or woman, stared at Sora and his friends, before immediately coming to a conclusion. "I see, you are not men who are under the King of Evil. Your appearances are not those of a monster he would bring forth."

"King of Evil? Wait, who are you?" Sora asked. "Why did you sneak up on us all of the sudden?"

"I am known as Sheik," the man explained, "I must apologize for startling you. This village was recently under attack by the phantom shadow beast, which was released by the King of Evil; Ganondorf. Everyone in the village has been taken into refuge, so it may be for the best that you do the same, until the shadow beast is defeated."

"N-no way," Sora muttered, "I mean, isn't there anything we can do to help against the shadow beast thing?"  
"Defeating the shadow beast is a job for the Hero of Time," Sheik replied, "as is the defeat of the King of Evil—"  
"Hmph, you speak of me?"

Shocked that his guard was let down for so long, Sheik turned around, realizing that somehow, the King of Evil had followed him. "What a fool you are, thinking you could hide from me. I am already aware that you are wearing nothing but a poor disguise. I curse myself for not seeing it sooner."

Sheik's eyes widened, while Sora was left puzzled. If there was one thing he knew, is that the armored man before them, standing on top of a hill, was probably the "King of Evil" considering how he introduced himself. "What do you call yourself, Sheik, is it? Shall I bring you to company that is more befitting of who you actually are?"

Uncertain what he should do, Sora glanced at Sheik, knowing he was in trouble. "Sheik, right? Get out of here!" He whispered.  
Normally, Sheik would be far too worried about this young, innocent bystander, but he knew that if he was taken, Hyrule would be doomed. He could only hope that Ganondorf wouldn't have time for the boy. Taking out a Deku Nut, Sheik tossed it on the ground, vanishing in the blinding light. Sora meanwhile, took out his Keyblade, his friends looking equally determined. Ganondorf was mildly miffed at Sheik's disappearance, but knew that he would catch up to the ninja at some point. It was expected for Sheik to flee.

"So, you are the boy who holds the key?"  
"Y-you know me?"  
"You are much like the holder of the blade of evil's bane, but less of a concern to me."  
"Huh?"

Summoning Heartless Soldiers around him, Ganondorf turned his back. "It was a mistake for me to ignore him for so long, he is steadily becoming a pain to deal with. It's for the best I settle things with wielder of the Master Sword, than waste my time with you." He then began to walk away from the scene, letting the Heartless do their work.

"Oh great! We just got here, and we're already fighting." Irritated by these turn of events, Sora and his friends tried their best to make quick work of the Heartless. It wasn't anything new in particular, but still kind of a pain to suddenly deal with.

The Heartless were finished off fast, allowing Sora to make his way into the village. It was completely silent, nothing really notable going on. It appeared that Sheik was telling the truth about everyone there being taken into refuge, and Sora could see why. "Where do we go from here I wonder?" Sora asked, as Luigi began shivering.

Toad noticed how Luigi was looking past the windmill, directly at the graveyard, and then gently nudged him. "What's wrong? Scared Luigi?" He teased, "Hey, Sora, why don't we look over there!"

"In the graveyard?" Sora raised an eyebrow at the idea, unsettled by it.  
"Yeah! I dunno about you, but when I hear 'phantom shadow beast', I think spooky graveyards and tombs! I bet we'll find that thing in there."  
"But, Sheik told us to let the hero handle it, right?"  
"Yeah, but that Ganondorf guy wants to stop him."  
"Toad has a good point," Sora agreed, "if we look around and find this hero, we can save him from that King of Evil… or whatever he's called."

Luigi was very hesitant, more than usual given his fear of ghosts, but he had no choice but to go along with his friends. As the three of them stepped into the graveyard, they collectively noticed a fenced off area above a pair of tombstones. Along with that, was a giant, gaping chasm.

"I really don't want to go down there," Luigi murmured.  
"Let's go down there!" Toad shouted.

"What!? No! Why!?" Luigi cried out. Before he could say or do anything else, Sora and Toad jumped down into the chasm, exploring the tombs that were down below. A dark, blue tint covered the inside of the tomb, pools of green acid in the next room, taking them all by surprise.

In the tomb were Emblem Heartless covered in bandages, better known as Wight Knights. Sora was partly relieved that it was just Heartless, as opposed to actual corpses in the dark tomb, otherwise he might have instantly turned around just like how Luigi desperately wanted to. The Wight Knights came running at Sora, who quickly put his guard up, then retaliated against them.  
Once they were taken care of, Sora could see a set of Pokéballs left in the tomb. "Geez, they're in here too of all places?" He said to himself, taking out the Pokédex to look at them upon collection. On the screen, he was shown a sword and shield of some kind, a golem with a nose, and a coffin creature. "Aegislash, Nosepass, Cofagrigas? Huh. Is that all that's here?" Sora wondered, looking around.

Toad meanwhile, found some potions that were hidden away, before deciding it was time to look at that fenced off place. They left the strange tomb, and did just that. Luigi was relieved to be out of that place, but didn't know that it would get much worse from here on out.

Sora could see the fenced off area, and was conflicted. What exactly was hiding up there? Toad looked over to Luigi, and whispered a suggestion to him. "Eh? I don't-a know if that will work, but," swallowing hard, Luigi stepped on one of the tombstones and began crouching on top of it. Sora was absolutely confused, wondering if this was desecration of the dead, until he saw Luigi spring up, and reach the fence, hanging off of it.

"Wah!" Luigi shouted, kicking around to gain some footing. It took a moment, but he climbed up past the fence.  
"What do you see up there?" Toad asked.  
"A stairwell," Luigi answered, "uh, hold on, I'm-a gonna try something."

Once again, Sora was left confused as to what these two were planning. Luigi looked around the dimly lit area, surrounded by torches, and was unsettled. Despite this, he saw a long, rusty chain which had broken off of something. Dragging it all the way back and determining it's length, he made sure it was safe, then tossed part of it over the fence, holding the other end of the chain as he did so.

"Climb up this-a way!"  
"Great thinking you two!" Sora cheered.

Toad went up first, thrilled that it all worked out somehow. Sora went next, but noticed something very unsettling about the chains he was climbing on. Not only were they red from rust, but there was some other kind of stain on them. "Is that…?" He mumbled to himself, feeling his stomach drop.

Being in a graveyard where the dead rested was one thing, but why was this chain splotched with actual blood? That question was soon answered when Sora and his friends went through the dark hall that was ahead.

* * *

The Shadow Temple, a place with the appearance akin to a torture chamber, a dungeon where criminals were punished. Sora was appalled when he went inside, the sight of the place made him sick. Toad was becoming a little uneasy too, and Luigi was turning his head in all directions, hearing the sound of ghostly moans in the corridors.

Sora couldn't turn back though. He had to at least be courageous, and face whatever fears he had. He wasn't going to let Ganondorf try and get rid of the Hero of Time. If the village being attacked was any indication, as well as the tombs crawling with Heartless were any indication, it was that this place definitely needed a hero, and Ganondorf had to be stopped before he did worse.

Trying to be as cautious as they could be, the trio stumbled upon a pit in the dungeon, which was wide open. Inside was a tub of acid, much like what they had seen in the tomb. There was a platform in the center, with two men standing there, clearly antagonizing one another.

"Tell me where the hell I am!" An older, muscular man demanded to know. On the other end of the platform was a younger man with blonde hair, wearing a green tunic and hat. Accompanying him was a fairy, whose appearance was shrouded in a blue light.  
Did Ganondorf send that guy? Actually, he appeared to be rather out of place. Sora knew that it was probably wrong to step in at a time like this, but he was certain that the one in green was the hero that Sheik was referring to. At least, Sora hoped that was the case. Jumping down into the deep pit, Luigi and Toad tried to follow, although they were very reluctant to do so.  
"What kind of planet am I on? What kind of place is this?"

"Th-this is the Shadow Temple," the fairy answered, frightened by the older man.  
"How do I get back to—"  
Sora dropped onto the ground, landing on his feet. The landing wasn't painful like he anticipated. "Hero of Time?" The young man in green, as well as the fairy, immediately had their attention grabbed by Sora.

Before much else could happen, the blue warp was disposed of, and all six of them were left without an escape. "Heh," a voice chuckled, which Sora recognized as Ganondorf's. "So you got here before I could step in? Amusing. The least I can do now, is kill two birds with one stone." Waving a hand, Ganondorf brought forth tons of Wight Knights, possibly too much for Sora to handle, even with his friends.

"No way!" The fairy cried out as Ganondorf left them behind. Link already plowed through the undead, and the shadow beast! It's too much for us to handle in such a small space!" Sora glanced over to the hero named Link, taking note of how exhausted he appeared. Toad hurried over to try and heal Link, but didn't get a chance as a Wight Knight jumped him.

The older man, already irritated, took out a chainsaw gun in front of all the Heartless. Just about everyone had the same reaction: pure shock, as the man started firing at all the Wight Knights. With every little impact, they were pushed into the vat of acid.  
Once they were all out of the way, Toad could heal Link, and a blue warp appeared on the platform. "Let's get the hell out of here," the man cursed, hurrying towards the warp. Link soon followed hesitantly, with Sora and his friends going last.

* * *

"Alright kid, do you know anything about just where it is I'm at?"

Sora paused momentarily, hoping to try to find a way to calm the older man down without him leading to this world being messed up. "Well, like me, you're on a different planet, so to speak."  
"Yeah, I figured that—"  
"But here, um," Sora thought over how the land looked, "it doesn't have technology you're used to."  
"Or knowledge of other planets!" Luigi added.

"So you should try to keep whatever we know under our hats, yeah!" Toad explained. "Otherwise, people around here will start asking questions. Just trust us on this, okay? We're gonna get you outta here when this is all over!"

"Hold on kiddos," the man grunted, "why should I trust you on any of that? Why can't I leave right away?  
"Well for one thing, we're the ones with a ship!" Toad snapped back. "And don't call me kiddo!"

"Not only that, but we have someone that will tell you everything about what's going on when this is finished." Sora politely said, pulling Toad away. It was probably going to be a little troublesome, bringing this irritable-looking guy to Rosalina, but Sora couldn't think of anyone else who would help. "How did you get here, mister…?"

Taking a long moment, the man finally gave in. "Fenix," he replied, "first name, Marcus. I don't exactly trust you kids, but unfortunately, I can't contact anyone, so it looks like you're the best chances I got at getting out of here. Anyway, I just kind of woke up in that hellhole of a dungeon, surrounded by acid. The only one in front of me was that boy with the blonde hair. I suspected him of bringing me there, but in hindsight, that was a hasty conclusion. I don't think he could have been capable of doing that. What about you three? What's going on with you?"

Sora took a minute to think over how he should put it, hopefully without messing things up. "Well, that guy you saw with the blonde hair? He's a hero, according to someone we met. He's going to stop the King of Evil, Ganondorf. You know, the one who threw all those monsters at us."

"Those things? I was wondering about them. They don't look like part of the Locust Horde."  
"That Ganondorf guy… he unleashed a monster to attack a whole village," Sora explained, "I know it's not your business, but it would be great if we all stuck together for now, and stopped him."

"You don't even have to ask me," Marcus replied, "I'm already pissed he dropped those… whatever they were, on me. Hearing that he did that though, makes me wanna see his ass get kicked even more."

"That's great! Just uh… watch your language a little maybe." Sora laughed nervously, aware of the blue light that was behind him. Returning after a long period of time was Link, and his fairy companion.

The fairy, flying over Sora, glanced at him. "The Sage of Shadow; Impa… she told us that you're destined to help Link against Ganondorf." She hesitantly drew back, uncertain of these sudden events. "Um, I'm Navi, the fairy. It's nice to meet all of you. Impa suggested that we catch you all up to speed, since you came from a land far from Hyrule, right?"

Hyrule? That must've been the name of this land. Marcus and Sora knew that they couldn't tell them that they were from a different planet or world, so they nodded. "Well… I should probably start off at the beginning then.

"Long ago, this land was formed by three goddesses, these golden goddesses… Din, Nayru, and Farore, created the Triforce, a sacred relic. Those with an unbalanced heart would cause this relic to split into three different pieces. Ganondorf, the Gerudo King, was seeking the Triforce so he could conquer Hyrule. Princess Zelda had a nightmares about this, and was hoping to stop him.

"She wanted Link to protect the Sacred Realm, where the Triforce laid, but he ended up sealing himself in the Sacred Realm for seven years after he took the Master Sword." Sora's eyes laid upon the blade in Link's hands, as Navi continued her story. "It allowed Ganondorf to enter the Sacred Realm, and touch the Triforce. However, it shattered into those three pieces because his heart wasn't balanced. He only holds the Triforce of Power.

"Now, Ganondorf has taken over Hyrule Castle, and Princess Zelda has gone missing for seven years. It's up to Link to awaken the power of the sages, so they can aid him in defeating Ganondorf, and restore peace to Hyrule!"

Sora actually had to sit down for all of that, as it was a lot to take in. It was like something out of a fairy-tale, yet it was actually something that happened in this world. "Since Link had just awakened all of the sages, now… I'm not sure what we do next. Link, should we go look for Sheik maybe?" Sora's eyes lit up when he heard the name mentioned, getting back onto his feet.

"Sheik? Oh, that's right! Link, Navi, Ganondorf wanted to chase after Sheik earlier. I think he could be in danger!"

"He is? We need to get going then, Link!" Navi chirped, flying around Link in a panic. "Let's check the Temple of Time maybe, he occasionally hides in there! It's right in Hyrule Castle Town— Link! Wait for me!" Crying out and chasing after the determined boy in green, Navi to the direction of the graveyard's exit.

Sora and his friends, as well as Marcus Fenix soon followed. On their way out however, Sora couldn't help but wonder about Marcus, primarily, how Link found him. He hoped that Navi wasn't tired of talking just yet, so she could at least answer that. Link seemed far too quiet to talk about anything…

"Navi, if you don't mind me asking, just how did you and Link find Marcus? You know, the older guy that's with us?"

Slowing down her pace of flight, Navi recalled the events which happened not too long ago. "It was strange. After Link defeated the phantom shadow beast, it completely dissolved, leaving behind some kind of weird, grey jewel. There was a bright light, and then all of the sudden, that guy came out, wanting to know what had happened!"

This… was really strange. Rosalina should have been the only one able to awaken those inside of those jewels, but this shadow beast indirectly did it after being killed. Perhaps Ganondorf did it? Maybe Rosalina would have the answer.

"Um, this isn't right," Navi complained, entering the Castle Town with Link by her side. "Normally, there would just be ReDeads here, but instead, there's these mummified creatures again! Where are they coming from?" This was a bad sign. Not only were they in the tombs and the Shadow Temple, but now the Wight Knights were here too, under Ganondorf's hand. "I dunno if I should be happy they replaced the ReDeads, or not," Navi muttered, "but we can't worry about those right now! You said Sheik might be in danger, so let's go!"

Before they could move any further however, a faint chuckle was heard. "Looking for your friend, Sheik, I presume." Ganondorf's voice boomed. "Unfortunately for you, I have already been made aware of him… the seventh sage, who leads them all, holder of the Triforce of Wisdom." Link's eyes widened, mouth hanging open as it was being revealed to him. "You understand the implications of all of this, don't you? Heh. If you intend to save Hyrule so badly, then you should hurry."

"This guy is really asking for it," Marcus said while gritting his teeth.  
"Looks like we're just going to head straight to that creepy tower then." Navi muttered.  
"I don't get it though, what's he trying to say about all that sage stuff and the Triforce?" Toad wondered.  
There wasn't any time to waste. Using the power of the awakened sages, a bridge made of rainbow lights was created, connecting to the tower that was just meters away. If they were fast enough, "Sheik" would be safe.

* * *

"Sheik," Ganondorf began, standing before the ninja, trapped in a pink crystal. "Or should I say… Princess Zelda." Snapping his fingers, the magic disguise was removed. The same woman before in royal garb gasped. "You are the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, and as such, know many things. Such things, that even I may not be aware of. Right now, I have underlings searching for something called the Keyhole… but it has not revealed itself."

"I… don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't?" Ganondorf chuckled once again. "I find that very difficult to believe. You sages have proven to keep a lot of secrets. Allow me to give you a mere suggestion, princess." Getting up, Ganondorf stared at the stained glass windows. "Fail to cooperate, and that boy will be disposed of on sight, leaving you to never be rescued. The same goes for his friends, including that child with the key."

Zelda went completely pale at the thought of all of those. She had already been blaming herself for fate to fall this way, she wasn't going to let Link and other innocents get killed now, just because she couldn't make the right decisions.  
She just… had to buy more time.

"Give me some time to see where it is—"  
"You know where it is already."  
"I do not know the exact details."  
"… Very well."  
It probably wouldn't help, but it had to be done. She had to fake it until Link was fast enough to get here, and caught Ganondorf off guard perhaps. She just hoped that the King of Evil was patient enough.

* * *

Ganon's Tower, it was dreadful both outside and inside. Wight Knights and Bandits, a new type of Heartless, were found inside, guarding the passage to the stairs. Rather simple work, but Sora was getting notably tired of having to use fire magic all the time. He was becoming actually envious of Luigi at this point, who had a more interesting array of spells.

Link thankfully was clearing a lot of the Heartless to help out. Sora couldn't help but find it curious how Navi flew around enemies, as if targeting them, allowing Link to deliver each blow with the Master Sword. The two must have been good partners, much like Jak and Daxter were.

Getting a little tired of how this was going, something suddenly caught Sora's eye, making him run downstairs where more Heartless were gathered. Pokéballs hidden down below once again, just waiting to be snatched up. Better to use them now, against this horde, so they could get through the tower faster. Chucking one of them, Sora was amazed to see what Pokémon came out this time. It was a large automaton, having a teal color, covered with yellow markings. The strange Pokémon launched itself into the air, and immediately swooped down at a horde of Heartless, disposing of them in just mere seconds. Link and Marcus were rightfully startled by the automaton's sudden appearance. Sora quickly forced it back into its Pokéball once the job was done, hoping he wouldn't have to explain it.

Checking the Pokédex, he saw that what he sent out was known as Golurk. The other two that he had picked up were Golem and Baltoy. "Don't uh, mind that," Sora said to Link and Marcus, "I summoned some extra help, so we can reach Sheik faster." Link could easily believe that, since Golurk wasn't too out of place here, reminding him a bit of things he had seen on his own quest, but Marcus seemed extremely skeptical.

"Let's hurry, Sheik is waiting for us!" Navi chirped.

* * *

"Princess… I know you are stalling for time."

Zelda felt her nerves tense up at Ganondorf being able to deduce that. "The moment the Hero of Time enters my domain, he will be captured no different than you. The same goes for that boy with the key. It is best that you tell me the location of the Keyhole, immediately, and stop hiding like a child."

… There was no other choice then. Princess Zelda really tried, but it seemed she was truly helpless.

—

The Large Body and Fat Bandit Heartless were taken care of by Link, who knocked them down with the Megaton hammer, allowing Sora and his friends to come in for the kill. The path to the top floor opened up, Link and everyone else immediately ascended the stairs, noticing that the organ that was being played, had suddenly stopped. It was rather unsettling, just walking past the stained glass windows, with no noise accompanying it besides everyone's footsteps.

"This is it, this is where Ganondorf is," Navi said, sounding uneasy. "Face to face, we're going to fight him now… why do I feel as if we're forgetting something though?" Floating around nervously, Navi glanced at Link. "Are we even ready for him? Something crucial feels missing."

Link pushed it aside and opened the door, with everyone else following him. An empty room with a red carpet, going up a small set of stairs. An organ surrounded by gothic architecture, the stained glass windows creating an orange glow that filled the deserted room.

"There's… no one here?" Sora muttered.  
"You kidding me? Were we led astray?" Marcus grunted.

Link and Sora hoped that they would here Ganondorf mocking them, but they didn't get anything. No indication of where he or Sheik could have gone. Then, a crumbling sound was heard, as a piece of the ceiling came crashing down on the group. "It's a trap!" Navi cried out. "We need to get out of here, he's trying to have the tower collapse on us!"

"Leave making a quick escape, to me then," Marcus said, getting ready to blow whatever was in the way to little pieces.  
Marcus practically blasted a hole in the side of the tower, and made a big leap of faith. Link and Sora would have questioned if that was really safe, but seeing Marcus hop off of each part of the castle told them they should be fine if they were careful. Link let out a grunt of pain and shouted during each leap. Luigi and Toad didn't feel anything from the fall, which Sora figured was from how many jumps they've made in the past. Sora himself though… well, thankfully, Marcus wasn't going to let the kid hurt himself like Link, he caught him falling, then made the rest of the escape out of the castle for him.  
The tower began falling on itself by the time they got out, sinking to the ground, becoming one with the ruined Hyrule. One of the pieces of stone from the castle went flying, colliding with a pillar, shattering it. Behind it appeared to be a cavern, which Navi immediately took notice to.  
"I… feel something over there." She mumbled.

With them not knowing where Ganondorf may have taking Sheik, Link and Sora had nowhere else to look at the moment. They watched as Navi was drawn towards the cave, hoping that this wouldn't be another trap. She quickly flew back to the crew, appearing to be tense. "A Fairy Fountain! Link, maybe the Great Fairy there can help us locate Ganondorf!"

Again, they didn't have much choice, heading inside of the cave, which had a beautiful fountain inside of it. Sora was in complete awe at the surroundings. Only two torches were lit, but it was enough to light up the whole area, making it look stunning. Link walked up the steps, standing on the triangular markings in front of the fountain, he then took out an instrument.

It was colored blue, appearing to be ceramic, having multiple holes which Link placed his fingers over. Blowing into the instrument, Link began playing a gentle, soothing tune, which managed to put the tense Luigi at ease. He really needed it after not only going through the Shadow Temple, but the collapsing tower as well.

The pool of water in the fountain began to glisten. Loud laughter was heard as a giant woman came out, nearly naked, only vines and leaves covering her body. Floating in the air, she was sitting with her legs crossed, giggling at the sight of the heroes, most of whom were in shock, with the exception of Link and Navi.

"Welcome heroes," she chuckled, "I am the Great Fairy of Courage. Is there something you ask of me?"  
"Do you uh," Sora stammered, "happen to know where Ganondorf may have gone?"

"The King of Evil, his presence was strong here, but it has left." The Great Fairy replied. "I feel that he has fled to the woods, in search of something that could throw the whole land into disarray. You there, young man… Sora, is it?" The Great Fairy held her hands out. "Wielder of the key, I shall grant you a new spell to aid you on your quest. Please accept it."

Sora was suddenly lifted off of his feet, taking him by surprise. A blue glow surrounded his Keyblade, feeling cold to the touch. Once it was all over, he was put back down. He could feel a new magic glowing from his Keyblade, and it didn't take too long to figure out what it was. It was ice magic, just what he needed so that Luigi wouldn't have to be relied on all the time.

"I am afraid this is all I can do to help you," the Great Fairy said, "should you feel weary on your travels, then come back and see me!" Laughing like she did upon her introduction, the Great Fairy vanished back into the fountain waters.

"The Lost Woods, near Kokiri Forest," Navi muttered, "to think Ganondorf would go where Link and I began our adventure…"  
Once they exited the Fairy Fountain, Link took out the instrument once more, and began playing a different tune. Green sparkles began surrounded everyone. Toad and Luigi were swept away, and vanished with the lights, Marcus Fenix was next, and then Sora himself, before Link joined them.

* * *

The Sacred Forest Meadow of the Lost Woods…  
Link was mildly concerned about bringing his new friends to this area, and looked at Navi, wondering if just her being around would be enough to protect them from being cursed, depending on how long they were there. Sheik was able to get by without a fairy, and it was something Link questioned, considering all of the stories surrounding the Lost Woods.  
Why was Ganondorf here though? To taunt Link one last time, by messing with the place where he spent his childhood?

"I'm not going to ask how you did that just now," Marcus mumbled.

Another serene-looking place. Behind a tree stump, Sora again, found Pokéballs lying around and collected them. The Pokédex identified them as Luxray, Excadrill, Regigigas. Once Sora was done there, he and everyone else descended down the steps that led to the rest of the Lost Woods. Just like the Castle Town, it was swarming with Wight Knights, a few Fat Bodies and Red Nocturnes as well. Since Sora had gained the Blizzard spell, Luigi was no longer alone in dealing with the Red Nocturnes, the two were capable of teaming up against them.

"Link… I just had a thought, as to where Ganondorf could be," Navi said, "do you think… the Great Deku Tree…"

—

Princess Zelda was free of her crystal prison, but could not fight back. She knew that if she refused any of the King of Evil's demands, that he would do his worst, as evident by a terrified Kokiri, huddling around the Deku Tree Sprout.  
"Princess, you will reveal the location of the Keyhole to me," Ganondorf spoke, "or the guardian of the forest and this young bystander will be no more."

Hesitating, Zelda looked at the Kokiri, who was huddled behind the Deku Tree Sprout. A look of terror was in his eyes, making Zelda feel horrible that this was all happening. She had to do it, she had to reveal the location, she couldn't let someone innocent be hurt in all of this. Raising her arms, a bright light came out of her hands. The light glow was directed at the top of an old, decaying tree, which strangely had a face. A hole was created, showing a keyhole made of wood, covered in vines.

"To think it was here this whole time," Ganondorf muttered, "I could have torn that corpse of a tree apart myself, had I known it was here." Snapping his fingers, Zelda was trapped once more, the Kokiri boy, wishing he had done something, grabbed a stick and immediately began charging at Ganondorf.

He was stopped by a man with white hair.

* * *

Kokiri Forest was overrun, just like the Lost Woods were. Red Nocturnes and a similar Heartless with a different coloring, known as Blue Rhapsodies, were floating around, casting magic against Sora and his allies. Ice got rid of the Red Nocturnes, fire disposed of the Blue Rhapsodies.

Behind a tree, which was carved out to be made into a house, were a set of Pokéballs once again, containing Noctowl, Rowlet, Pancham, so the Pokédex said. Sora also managed to pick up several potions and ethers, using the latter right away, since he had been using his new magic powers a lot. Luigi also took them in, just to be prepared for whatever else laid deep within the forest.  
A pair of pigmen blocked the way, Link recognized them as once guarding the Sacred Forest Meadow, dealing with them would not be easy if he got close, so Link took out his bow and arrow. Aiming at the heads of the two Moblins, Link took them down each with a single shot, allowing them to pass through.

The path to the Great Deku Tree was notably silent compared to the rest of the forest, indicating that something bad was probably about to happen.

"That boy, again?" The man with white hair said, looking irritated as he stood near the Keyhole of the Great Deku Tree.  
"Yes, the one with the key. Much more persistent than I expected. Truly, he is no different than he who wields the blade of evil's bane." Ganondorf explained, an impatient look on his face. "It may be in your best interest to explain the situation to that boy, Riku. Doing so may actually prove useful to—"

Link's fears were confirmed when he finally stepped in, seeing the deceased forest guardian, the top of his head desecrated, and two bodies lying on the ground, one belonging to a woman, and one being that of someone from his childhood years.

"Mido!?" Navi cried out, seeing the fallen Kokiri boy.  
"Wait a second," Sora said, looking up at the man with white hair. "Are you… Dracula?"

Before Sora could get an answer, the man vanished without a trace, making Sora feel uneasy. "That woman… Link, that… that's Princess Zelda!" Navi shouted once again.

"So, you've finally noticed," Ganondorf chuckled, "the friend you all knew as Sheik, was none other than the princess of Hyrule herself."

"Step away from the broad!" Marcus yelled, holding up a chainsaw gun.  
"Imbecile," Ganondorf replied, "she is one of the seven maidens who hold the key to opening the door."  
"Opening?" Toad questioned.  
"The door?" Luigi followed up.

"Yes, and you will not live to see what lies beyond it." Holding up his left hand, Ganondorf showed a triangular emblem on it, the Triforce of Power. "The two Triforce parts I could not capture on that day, seven years ago… I did not expect them to be hidden within you two." Link made a confused noise, as an emblem appeared on his left hand as well. The same happened to Princess Zelda, who began regaining consciousness. "Not only have I found the Keyhole, but all the Triforce parts have gathered here!"

He then began floating up in the air, laughing evilly. Just before the battle could start though, Princess Zelda ran up to Link, a glowing light in her hands. "Link, I'm sorry. It was all my fault that it came to this." She then offered the light to Link, which surrounded his bow and arrows. "The least I can do, to make up for it, is give you the power to stun the King of Evil. You must all work together to stop him!"

"Good, because I'm about ready to take this guy out and—" Before Marcus could finish his sentence, he was knocked out cold by a wave of dark power, leaving him completely immobilized.

Ganondorf unleashed a ball of energy, which went straight into Sora's direction. "Sora! This is the Dead Man's Volley, you have to parry the attack each time it comes at you!" Navi explained. Thankfully, Sora stuck the ball of energy just as Navi finished explaining, right before the attack could hit him. Ganondorf knocked the energy back with his hands, making it return to Sora faster. It kept going at a quicker pace, until Ganondorf could not react in time.

Link saw the opportunity, taking out his bow and firing a Light Arrow at Ganondorf, knocking him to the ground. Both Sora and Link jumped at the moment, swinging their weapons at the fallen King of Evil. Luigi joined in by trying to cast magic, although it didn't do nearly as much damage as the physical attacks.

Quickly trying to get back up into the air, Ganondorf kept his distance a little farther this time, and repeated the process as before. Sora unfortunately, did not time his attack correctly, and ended up getting shocked by the energy, leading to Ganondorf loudly mocking him. The second try went much more smoothly, with Sora being able to determine the energy ball's speed, which was a bit faster than last time despite the greater distance. Just like before, Ganondorf was stunned, and then put to the ground by a Light Arrow, allowing Link and Sora to do their worst before he got up again.

The third time, Ganondorf was closer to Sora rather than farther, the energy ball came at Sora so fast that he wasn't even able to do anything with his Keyblade. "Now that's just unfair," Sora grunted, hoping to get Ganondorf on the next go. The moment the energy ball left Ganondorf, Sora immediately swung the Keyblade, coming back at Ganondorf at a speed that he couldn't counter this time like he had before. The same thing as before happened, but with Ganondorf violently recoiling, indicating that was it.

Breathing heavily, Ganondorf choked on his words. "The Great King Ganondorf… beaten by these children?" He began to smile, holding up his left hand once again as he gained the strength to jump into the air once more. His body blackened, eyes turning orange, sparks covering his body as he began his transformation.

A large beast, towering over Link stood before he and his allies. It had hooves, horns, blue skin and fur, as well as a long tail. A large mane of red hair was on the beast's head, as well as piercing green eyes. A pair of blades were in its hands, swingings them, before letting out a ferocious roar.

Immediately, the beast smacked the Master Sword out of Link's hands, and outside of a ring of flames which had suddenly formed. Link was now unarmed, save for the bow he carried. "Link, Sora, look at the glow on his tail!" Navi chirped, flying around Ganon cautiously. "Do you think… this is his weak point?"

Sora knew there was only one way to find out. He watched as Ganon, the beast, swung his blades down at the heroes, but Sora rolled underneath him, and began hitting the tail with his Keyblade. Ganon screeched in pain, lifting his tail so it would be out of Sora's range. Link attempted to fire Light Arrows at Ganon, but he blocks them off with his blades. He had to wait until the beast was distracted.

Link tried to use himself as a lure for Ganon, so Sora could run behind him and deliver more strikes to his tail. Right after that though, Ganon swung his blades at Sora, dealing a hefty amount of damage, enough for Toad to come running to heal him. Despite having the resemblance of a large pig, he was not to be taken so lightly it seemed.

This had Sora on edge a bit more than Nightmare and Metal Kor. It really seemed like Ganon wanted him dead, and wasn't hesitating for even a second. Link finally managed to get a hit on Ganon's face with the Light Arrows, not only stunning him, but doing a fair amount of damage. Sora used the chance to try and hack at Ganon's tail one more time.

Ganon fell to his knees, stunned for a moment as the flames finally went down. Marcus Fenix got up, looking at the Master Sword. "This thing here is what's going to get rid of him, right?" He grunted, pulling the sword out of the ground and then tossing it in Link's direction. "Use it well, kid!"

Link hurried to get the Master Sword back in his hands, just before the flames could go back up. Now, he was capable of doing a lot more to help Sora, rather than just relying on the Light Arrows and his new ally. The two of them took turns, tag-teaming against Ganon's weak point, while Luigi attempted to occasionally stun the beast by casting some thunder onto Ganon's face.  
After several attacks, Ganon once again, fell over. This time though, when the flames went away, a beam of light hit him, making his shriek in pain even louder. Everyone looked over, seeing that Princess Zelda was responsible. "I'm using my power to hold the Evil King!" She exclaimed. "Link, use the Master Sword and deliver the final blow!"

Before she knew it, she was exhausted, clutching her chest and nearly falling over, but Marcus tried to help her stand up. Link could see a glow coming from the Master Sword, reacting to the weakened Ganon. He immediately acted, slicing at Ganon's face multiple times, specks of blood coming from the beast, before Link finally jammed the Master Sword in his mouth.

Ganon was completely still for a few seconds, before getting back onto his feet, screeching and flailing around from the intense pain. "Six Sages, now!" Zelda shouted, making a bright light appear from her hands once more.

"Ancient creators of Hyrule… Now, open the sealed door, and send the Evil Incarnation of Darkness into the void of the Evil Realm!"

"No… NO!" Ganondorf shouted, reverted to his original form, now being surrounded by a white light. "YOU… CURSE YOU, ZELDA!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, slowly descending into the void. "CURSE YOU… SAGES!" Reaching his hand out, Ganondorf attempted to escape, but felt his body could no longer move. "CURSE YOU… LINK! And you… you… holder on the key, I CURSE YOU ALL! When this seal breaks, I… I…!"

Just before the white light could fade away, Zelda gasped, seeing someone sneak up behind her without her knowledge…

—  
"You… you did it!" Navi cheered. "The King of Evil has finally been stopped, Hyrule will return to its former glory! Link, I," she then stopped flying around when she looked over to Marcus and the Kokiri, who had finally regained consciousness. "Wait… where did Princess Zelda go?"

"What?" Marcus, realizing the woman had vanished when the whole had went white, began looking around. "Crud! I lost her! She was just here with me a moment ago, I swear. I didn't do anything… I, I'm sorry, this is my fault." Marcus grumbled, looking the other way. "I let my guard down for just a moment, because that swine went down."

Link and Navi glanced at each other, feeling a little awkward. Link wanted to reassure him, but didn't know how to. Sora, during all of this didn't notice that the tree sprout had finally come back up… right where he was standing.  
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed.

"Hi there, I'm the Great Deku Tree Sprout!" The sprout greeted, with a cute smile on its face. "Holder of the key… for aiding the Hero of Time in his quest to defeat the King of Evil, and for defending the forest, I am in your debt. I know it is the Keyhole you want to reach, which is difficult, given the height of the former Great Deku Tree… would you allow me to give you a boost, so it can be locked, keeping Hyrule safe?"

Rather surprised, Sora nodded, and watched as the Deku Tree Sprout went back into the ground. "Alright then! One… two… three!" At that last number, the sprout came back up, launching Sora right where the Keyhole was. He admittedly shouted from how sudden that leap was, but managed to make the jump without hurting himself.

Just like the last two times, the Keyhole glowed. Sora pointed his Keyblade directly at it, firing a small beam of light into the hole. The loud click of something locking was heard, as light engulfed the deceased Great Deku Tree. Slowly, the entirety of the tree grew back, covering the revealed keyhole with wood growing over it.

"What… what the heck is going ooooon!?" Mido, the Kokiri shouted, looking terribly confused and frightened.

* * *

"Look," Marcus said, sitting in Link's… rather small house, made out of a tree. "I'm really sorry for losing the Princess like that. I don't know every little detail, but it sounded like she was really important to this land. Listen, I know I seem really aggressive, but you seem like a good kid, going through so much on your own, a one-man army. The least I could do is stay here and get her back, before I have to leave this place."

Link began muttering and gesturing something to Navi, who looked over to Marcus. "Um, Link says… he would rather you accompany Sora, and help him find Zelda, wherever she could be! We're all going to look around and search for Zelda, whether it be in Hyrule, or in a faraway land!"

Mido stood there this whole time, wondering why they were even in Link's old home, until he heard that name and saw Navi. "Wait, Link? Is… is that you?" Link looked down, and nodded at Mido, who seemed rather embarrassed for not recognizing him earlier. "But, I didn't think you could grow up, like the rest of the Kokiri, ah, I mean, you were always the different one but… Link, I'm… I'm really sorry for the way I treated you back then. It wasn't right of me. This whole time, when you vanished for so long, I thought it was my fault."

Trying not to cry, the pouty Kokiri wiped his eyes. Link couldn't help but kneel down and comfort his old, childhood bully, knowing that he didn't mean any harm. "Alright then, let's get going, I can't stand this emotional stuff too much." Marcus sighed.

They left the small treehouse, jumping down and making their way back to where Hyrule Fields was. But before they could, they were all stopped by Navi flying over towards them. "Wait, Sora!" She yelped. "I know I'm holding you back, I apologize, but… there's something I want to tell you. Those two are your friends, right?"

"Well yeah," Sora replied, "of course."  
"Are you," she hesitated, "afraid that when this is all over, you'll have to leave them?"

Sora thought about it for a moment, looking over at Toad and Luigi, who were also taking it into consideration. "No, why would I? I mean, I would miss them, but the memories of us being together would still be there, right?"

Drawing back, Navi slowed down, trying to think about it. "I guess so," she muttered, "it's just… now that Hyrule is safe, and Link's adventure is over, I've finished what the old Great Deku Tree wanted, and will have to leave him soon. I don't know if I can do it though. If I stick around, I feel like I'll be annoying, but if I leave, I might regret it forever!"

"Annoying?" Luigi question. "Not for nothing, but it seems like you're a valuable friend to Link!"  
"You helped him against those monsters a few times, and speak for him when he can't!" Toad agreed.

"You stuck by him the whole time, not leaving him for a moment, didn't you?" Sora asked. "Navi, the memories you've made with Link probably can't be replaced by anything. Sure, saying goodbye might be sad, but you may meet again someday, with more stories to tell. Take your time though, and determine when you should depart from him."

Slowly nodding, Navi flew back to the treehouse, while uncertain, she was definitely put at a lot more ease. She could only hope that she really was that valuable to Link as a friend.

"By the way," Marcus chimed in, handing over a flash drive to Sora. "I found this. I don't know what it is, you got any idea?"

* * *

Shakoahn stood there at the circle along with Dracula and Riku, the three of them appearing rather unimpressed with the situation at hand. "That King of Evil could have had them, you realize," Shao Kahn grumbled, "if someone stayed to assist him with the lesser foes."

"Hey, I did my part," Riku snapped back, "I told him about Sheik's identity, and brought the princess over, didn't I?"

Dracula stood there, more disappointed than usual. He didn't want to admit it, but Ganondorf was one of his better allies along with Shao Kahn. Dracula trusted Ganondorf with quite a bit of the planning, more-so than anyone else, so it was very disheartening to see that they were successful in not only defeating him, but sealing him away.

"Ganondorf was… beyond help at this point. His attempts were valiant, but it seems even he let his desire of the Triforce weaken him in the end." Dracula averted his gaze to Shao Kahn, wondering if the same fate would befall him. "I hope that this does not happen to anyone else we know."

"Hmph, are you implying I will be like him? I do not desire petty, golden triangles, my focus is entirely on this plan!" Shao Kahn then looked over to Riku, smirking. "I should also mention, boy, we have something rather special for you."

"Huh?"  
"We had a deal, did we not?" Dracula explained. "You aid us, and we shall grant your wish."  
Appearing over the green lights, was the apparition of a girl, one that Riku recognized far too well.  
"Kairi!" He exclaimed.  
"Go to her," Dracula said, "your vessel is waiting—"

Before Dracula could finish his sentence, the hologram flew in, bumping into Riku, nearly shoving him to the floor. "Just remember, Earth creature! This is no pleasure cruise, it is not a pleasant voyage!" The hologram was revealed to be some sort of alien, which startled Riku greatly.

"Why… why are you doing all this for me?" Riku questioned. "What's the catch?"

"Catch? My dear boy, there is none." Dracula replied, putting his hand on Riku's shoulder. "I could not stand a child such as yourself being unhappy and lost, it was my duty to take you in."

"I seriously doubt that," Riku grunted, brushing the hand off of his shoulder.  
"Believe what you like," Dracula sighed, "but I did keep my end on the bargain."

The two stared at each other for a long while, the hologram alien and Shao Kahn off to the side, until Riku turned around and began walking away. Dracula kept his cold face on, tempted to scold the alien for his rude entrance, but he knew there was little point to it.

(END CHAPTER)


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 6  
Tell Me Lies

Everyone was back in Traverse Town. Toad was showing Marcus where he can others stranded like him and Luigi was going to drop the Pokemon they found at Oak's. Sora took the flash drive Marcus found to Dr. Light, as he believed it contained stuff from Steve's world.

"It does, my boy!" Dr. Light was done analyzing the data and preparing it to go to Steve's world. "I'll send it to Steve right away! You get to the entryway to make sure he gets it!" Sora stood on the platform ready to be digitized as Dr. Light turned it on.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

_

Sora, once again in his block form, walked around hoping to Steve alright. Things were a little too quiet, and Sora was starting to worry, until he heard a loud -

"HEADS UP!"

Sora ducked just as a vial containing some liquid flew over him, hitting a Creeper nearby. The damage from the vial's contents led to the Creeper detonating prematurely, damaging only some of the surrounding ground. Sora turned around to see Steve walking towards him, with more of those vials in hand. "Glad you could make it. Shortly before you arrived I was able find the damage potions. They're going to be a great help in taking out the Creepers. You wanna help?"

"You bet!" Steve led Sora to where the Creepers were gathering, all ready for an ambush. Sora readied his Keyblade to shoot out his fire spell, as Steve said ranged attacks were best. They took up opposite positions to box them in. When Sora was ready, he held up his Keyblade to signal Steve. Steve responded by throwing one of the potions into the air. Sora took aim and fired, shattering the vial, and allowing the contents to be spread over a greater area. The Creepers that were hit exploded, with also took out the surrounding Creepers. Stragglers from the edge made a break for it, but were quickly struck down by fireballs and more potions.

Looking over the the area, Steve had a satisfied look on his face. "That takes care of another group. But it's going to get tougher from here. If we're gonna survive this, we need the rest of my weapons. Think you can make another miracle?" Sora gave a thumbs-up as the portal to the real world appeared. "Count on me!"

_

"Good thing you finally returned!" Dr. Light was a little frantic when Sora returned. "The Heartless have been getting more numerous and are concentrating attacks. We think they're looking for something, but we don't know what. Your friends are meeting at the Second District where the most recent attack was. If you hurry, you can make it before the next attack." As Sora turned to leave, Rosalina stopped him. "Be careful. I'm sensing a dormant power nearby, and I don't know the source." Sora nodded, walking out with a growing unease.

_

"Glad you could make it." Sora saw a group of familiar faces. He saw Toad and Luigi talking with Marcus, Raiden scouting out the area with Ash, but most surprisingly, Claptrap, with Snake pointing a gun at his head. "He conned Cloud into buying a Heartless Detector, but it was just an overgrown magnet. While Cloud works on getting it off of his sword, we're helping Claptrap make himself actually useful."

"And I keep telling you, how do you know that the Heartless aren't magnetic? You have no concept of true science." As Snake smacked him over the head, Marcus approached Sora. "According to Raiden, the Heartless are nowhere to be found, so we got some time. Latest reports note the Heartless converging on this building, but we haven't found out why."

"Pika pi!"  
"You found something Pikachu?"

Ash was looking up at the roof, where the yellow mouse was trying to call his attention. Figuring it was important, Raiden ran up the wall to where Pikachu was. As Luigi stood speechless at the feat, Sora walked to Ash.

"Have you been adjusting?"  
"Somewhat. Being with Professor Oak helps, and there's still Pokemon to find, even though it's just the ones missing from his lab."  
"You found some? We've looking for them too. Which ones did you find?"  
"So far, Furfrou, Poochyena, and Garbodor. The Professor believes the there are just a few more here, but I don't know where."  
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be found."  
"Hey! We think we have a lead!"

Raiden looked over the edge of the roof, calling everyone's attention. "There's an old bell up here. I had Otacon look it up. It appears to be as old as Traverse Town. There were some fresh claw marks matching Heartless fingers. Whatever they want, it includes that bell."

"If it's an old antique, does that mean it's valuable? Maybe we can get the Heartless to pay a great price for it!" Snake gave Claptrap an extra-hard smack for that one. But it gave a member of the group an idea. "Pikachu! Use Quick Attack on the bell!" Everyone turned to him to wonder what he was thinking, before hearing a loud bong. The bong was interrupted by a deep rumbling coming from the nearby fountain. It was revealed to be a rotating panel, revealing a whole new design. "Otacon, you getting this?"

"Yes, but doesn't make any sense. I can't find any record of it in the archives of the blueprints. It's as if it was meant to be hidden." Things started to click together for the group. "Pikachu! Keep hitting the bell!" Several more bongs sounded through the air, making the panel keep rotating until it stopped and started to glow at one part of it. A glow that took a very familiar shape.

"The Keyhole! That's what the Heartless were looking for!" As soon as Sora said that, a huge shadow fell from above with a loud clang. Sora, Toad, and Luigi's blood froze when they saw what it was. The Guard Armor, thought to be destroyed, was laying there right before them. Then, the unexpected happened.

The arms got up and propped in an arms-only handstand, the fingers spread out before floating up. The legs began to float up, higher than the arms, the feet bending to resemble claws made out of blocks. The torso flipped over at the center, the limbs rotating around it. The last to rise was the helmet, the visor lowering to reveal two glowing eyes, focusing entirely on the Keyblade wielder. Eyes that Sora was transfixed by in shock, even as the torso angled to point a glowing end at him.

"SORA, LOOK OUT!" Raiden's speed allowed him to get Sora out of the way of the blast, but not him in time. He took the full brunt of the blast, propelling him to the other side of the district. His armor was able to handle most of the damage, but he was out for the rest of the battle.

Snake and Marcus were already moving, aiming their guns and dodging in a run-and-gun battle. Their diversionary tactic worked for a few moments, but the newly named "Reverse Armor" counteracted by splitting apart into three sections: the arms, the legs, and the head and torso. At first, it seemed like it got easier to the heroes, but the sections revealed that being smaller made you a tougher target, and less weight meant more speed.

The leg-claws went after Snake and Marcus, using their bulk to pin them down. The hands went after Ash and Luigi, keeping them at bay with their speed. This allowed the torso to go after Sora. Toad tried to help with his shield, but the head kept knocking him back. For the first time since coming to Traverse Town, Sora was alone.

But that didn't stop him. Sora grip on the Keyblade tightened as he charged, landing a blow on the torso. He continued the volley as much as he could, before the torso got used to his speed and began to dodge. When it dodged, it quickly swung around to hit Sora from behind, knocking him down. Sora was able to roll to the side to avoid the following slam, but he didn't have a chance to get back up in a fighting stance. He was forced on the defensive, the torso chasing him at its own pace. It was about to do another slam when-

BZZZZZZT!

A bolt of electricity went down on the torso, stunning it for a few seconds and finally giving Sora an opening to get a few more hits in. But as he ended his combo, he got a little shock from residual electricity. What was interesting though that it didn't exactly hurt. It was more like it was "carried" along the Keyblade. Wanting to explore it a bit further, he concentrated, focusing on the feeling of the electricity flowing through the Keyblade. A few seconds later, lightning was falling from the sky, hitting random places in the immediate area. Thankfully it didn't hit any allies, but it did get a certain someone's attention.  
"Pika!"

Sora looked to see Pikachu standing next to him. Then a crazy idea formed in his head. "Pikachu, quick! Get on the Keyblade!" Pikachu jumped onto the end of the Keyblade, pointed at the reassembling Reverse Armor. Sora began to concentrate, recalling the feeling of the lightning. It began to go up the Keyblade again, but this time, it stopped before being released, getting absorbed into Pikachu, until he was ready to blow.

"THUNDER!"  
"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

An intense Thunderbolt erupted from Pikachu, heading straight towards the Reverse Armor. It barely had enough time to shield itself from the blast, holding up it's claw-feet in front of it. A tremendous flash filled the district, blinding everyone. When everyone could see again, they saw the Reverse Armor without his claws. They were fully disintegrated by the lightning. Only ashes were left.

Sora nearly jumped in excitement but quickly noticed that Pikachu was exhausted from that last attack. Ash quickly ran over to get Pikachu away, leaving Sora free to continue attacking. Running over to regroup with the others, he quickly got into a defensive stance as the former arms started to spin around like a buzzsaw.

"You weakened it, but what now?" Sora couldn't come up with an answer. Still catching his breath, his eyes went down for a second, where he caught an interesting sight. "Hey Marcus, how strong is that thing?" Marcus looked where Sora was pointing, getting to where he was going. "Pretty strong, but we'll to put some force into it. You got a plan?"

The arms were increasing in speed, making close combat very dangerous. So the Reverse was surprised to see Sora, Luigi, and Toad flanking it. Feeling slightly irked at their "arrogance", it began to close in on them. Which was what they were waiting for. "All right, guys! NOW!"

Sora spun around with all his might, with Toad and Luigi charging towards him when his spin was near-complete. At the moment of full impact, Sora pointed the Keyblade downwards, in the path of the arms. The force of the collision caused the hands to crash together, then bounce off of the Keyblade, heading towards Marcus. Specifically, towards his already revving chainsaw gun. A hefty swing combined with the speed of the arms led to a clean cut through the arms. The chainsaw died down as the arms dissipated back into the darkness they came from. Only the head and torso were left but that didn't make the fight any easier.

Enraged at the loss of his limbs, the Reverse Armor put its torso in the cannon position and charged intensely. Even if it missed, it would cause untold damage to the surrounding area. Everyone realized this, and quickly went in front of the cannon to block the blast. They weren't sure if they could succeed in blocking the blast, or even survive. But they had to, for that was what it means to mean a hero. It was a resolve they strengthened as the cannon fired, a bright flash filling their eyesight.

A flash that was quickly blocked out by a combination of a laser, petals, and a huge flame. Surprised, the heroes turned to the source of the counterattack to find Ash with some more Pokemon with him. "Pikachu found them in the bell. I figured they could help." Sora quickly looked at the Pokedex, revealing the three Pokemon to be Glameow, Roserade, and Ho-oh, the final one swooping in for a final attack. The Reverse Armor, still reeling from the fact that it was countered, was unable to protect itself from the fire blast that Ho-oh shot at it.

A huge flash of fire lit up the Third District. When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the Reverse Amore was its head. A head that was desperately trying to bounce away. "Oh, no you don't!" Sora quickly gave chase, knowing he had to finish it now. He was only a few steps away when he saw a blur rush past him. A second later he saw Raiden standing in front of the head with his sword ready. "Mind if I join in?" Sora smiled as he swung the Keyblade the same time as Raiden swung the High-Frequency Blade. The two blades hit the head the same time, finally ending the threat of the Reverse Armor. A heart floated up into the air as the head dissolved, and the heroes finally fell to the ground, drained of all stamina.

"Hey wait a second, where did Claptrap go?" The heroes suddenly looked around, realizing that the robot was nowhere to be found. As Ash helped get everyone to Professor Oak's for some treatment, Snake was muttering on how he was going to "tear that bucket of bolts apart".

Sora just shook his head has he locked the Keyhole, hearing the reassuring click.

_

While getting bandaged up, Sora was taking a call from Otacon, as Snake was too busy overlooking Raiden's repairs. "I picked up a tip about the world where you fought that giant monster and met that Kratos guy. There's another tournament in the works. Namely, you have to beat the current guys on top to win. It's like King of the Hill."

"OK, we'll go check it out." As Sora hung up, Toad glared at him. "Why are we going back? There's no point. We already know that Mario and your friends aren't there."  
"But there are friends we made that will get hurt. And not to mention that we still haven't found the Keyhole for that world, so the Heartless can still attack at any time."  
"...Fine. But only until we find the Keyhole."  
"Now that that's settled, let's go."  
"D-d-do we have to?"  
"Yes!"

_

Landing the Gummi Ship back in the scary-looking forest, the trio walked back to the arena, nervous at what the reactions were going to be. But to their surprise, reactions were few as the first thing to greet their sight was a bunch of injured warriors, lying unconscious on the side. What was strange was that there were burns on all of them, around the same size as a fist. Wondering what was going on, their attention was grabbed by a sudden cry.

"Sora! Toad! Luigi!"

Liu Kang ran towards the heroes, with a worried look in his eyes. "Thank goodness you're here. Shao Khan's latest soldier has beaten everyone who has challenged him. Kratos is fighting him now. But if he is beaten, Shao Khan's evil will spread." Sora ran to the arena, hoping that Kratos would be all right.

Kratos was doing fine for the moment. His opponent wore similar garb the purple-clothed warrior wore, except it was bright yellow. And there was a more sinister look in his eye. The two of them were going toe-to-toe for the moment, giving Sora a bit relief when he arrived on the scene. Relief that instantly vanished when he saw a glowing blast move past him. "Kratos! Look out!"

Sora's warning came a little too late as the blast hit Kratos from behind, knocking him the ground. A man with snow-white skin with black markings came from the direction of the blast, giving an evil smile for all to see.

"Why did you interfere, Quan-Chi? This was not your match."  
"But our duty is not to have matches, but to eliminate those who would oppose Shao Khan. And your battle against this one was taking too long. It would have allowed the Earthrealm warriors to get away."  
"Fine. But I shall dispose of this one first. GET OVER HERE!"

A chain was thrown at Kratos, aiming to pierce his flesh and pull him towards his opponent, but it was deflected before it could hit its target. Sora stood by Kratos in a battle stance with the Keyblade. "I don't think so."

"You have no right to interfere with my battles." Kratos slowly got up, the blast appearing to do little damage. "Tell that to him. But with this, it's now a even two-on-two." Kratos looked at the sorcerer behind him, knowing that he was the true intruder. "Fine. But Scorpion is mine."

"Agreed." The two split up, Sora going after Quan-Chi, Kratos going after Scorpion. Quan-Chi, not expecting the newcomer, was instantly taken off balance, unable to do an aggressive attack. Scorpion was faring no better, as Kratos's swings had added weight from his rage. He had to do something quick, and made a desperate move. Taking off his mask, revealing the skull that was left of his head and let loose with a massive ball of flame. Kratos prepared to deflect it with the Golden Fleece, but realize the shot would head towards Sora. Not knowing why, Kratos turned around and tackled Sora, knocking him out of the way of the fire, which ended up hitting up hitting Quan-Chi instead.

"No!" Scorpion barely had any time to let what he did sink in as the Nemean Cestus came flying at his face, knocking him back to the side of the arena, ending the fight. Sora used his ice spell to put out the flame on Quan-Chi, but he was unable to continue as well. Realizing that the fight was over, Sora turned to Kratos.

"Thanks. You really saved me."  
"I don't know why. That was the first time I saved a live, rather than take it."  
"Maybe that's good. You can be a hero to this world."  
"A hero? How can I do that, when all I know is destruction?"  
"You just have to follow your heart. It will show you the way."  
"I shall try. There are still more that follow Shao Khan's rule. I shall begin by ending their threat."  
"Right. We will both stop evil, wherever it may be."  
"Hey, Sora!"

Toad and Luigi ran up to where Sora and Kratos were. "We got a call from Otacon. He's located another planet where there are Heartless running amok. Could be another chance to find our friends." Sora said his farewells to Kratos as the trio headed back to the Gummi Ship. "So did you find the Keyhole?"  
"No. So we're going to have to return later."  
"WHAT?!"

Toad went to revive a fainted Luigi as Sora turned the Gummi Ship to its next destination.

_

Flying to the next world, Sora was uncertain where it was. In the distance during their flight, Sora could see some kind of building, and they were somehow getting closer to it without trying.

"What is that?" Luigi stammered. "Wait, why can't we escape!? Is it pulling us!?"

"Sora, that space has some kind of tractor beam!" Otacon yelled over the codec. "It's going to pull you in, turn back now!"

"It's too late!"  
"AAAAH!"

_

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?"  
"What difference does it make? There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!"  
"All right, suppose there really is a monster. Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?"

"No problem! Let's do it!" The young boy smiled, waving his arm at the other to join him, directing attention to a bunch of bushes. "Listen! There! Can you hear it growling?" The other boy stepped forward, but was stopped short. "Ssh, quiet. We've gotta be careful."

The two of them, Sora and Riku, wandered into the deeper parts of the woods, anticipating some kind of beast to jump out at them. Heading in further and further, the place became darker, until the two boys finally found the source of the noise inside of a cave, with Riku directing attention to a hole in the ceiling.

"See that? It was just the wind making that noise."

"Aw, man. I wish it was a monster!" Turning his head, Sora then noticed something odd inside of the cave. "Hold on, what's that over there?"

A wooden door with a gold outline, appearing to be closed tight. Walking up to it, Riku pressed his hands against the door, trying to push it. "A window, or maybe a door?" He wondered, trying to pull it this time. "It won't open."

"Geez, is that really all that's in here?"

"What do you expect in a boring place like this?" There was a small pause, before Riku spoke up again. "Hey, Sora."

"Hm?"  
"When we grow up, let's get off of this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"  
"Sure. But isn't there anything fun to do now?"  
"Hey, you know that new girl at the mayor's house?"

"Did you hear—"

_

Sora woke up to the sound of a voice pinging him, sounding like a computer.

"Hello and, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center."

Startled, he got up quickly, seeing Toad and Luigi standing near him. "Wha—" he hesitated, "where are we now? We were just in the Gummi Ship moments ago, what happened?"

"Some kind of magnetic tractor or something pulled us in over to this lab!" Toad replied with annoyance. "Now we're stuck here, and the Gummi Ship got locked. Hey, lady! Just what the heck are you up to?" Toad shouted at the security camera in the white room, hoping to get a response.

"The enrichment center reminds you that precautions must be made against potential spies from company Black Mesa. If you are not someone sent from Black Mesa, hired to tarnish the Aperture Science enrichment center, you will be allowed to proceed and participate in the Aperture Science testing."

"Black Mesa?" Sora questioned. "Aperture Science? What even are those things?"

There was a long pause, with the security camera staring down at the group. "Verified to not be parts of Black Mesa. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper. Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment center activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety and the safety of others, please refrain from touching—"

Suddenly, the computerized voice fizzled out, with some sort of blue portal opening up before Sora and his friends. They were rightfully startled, as there appeared to be no other entrances besides it. No doors, just a lone, white chamber with a security camera looking down at them, and what appeared to be a glass window at the top of the wall, where researchers were supposed to look down at them.

"Uh, did she just say that serious injuries could occur?" Luigi whimpered.

Carefully stepping through the blue portal, Sora came out what appeared a completely different room, which had an elevator. "Excellent. Please proceed into the elevator, which will take you to the first text chamber. First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it—"

Despite her words, Sora managed to blissfully ignore it in confusion, passing through the particle field, which reacted violently to his keyblade. Rather than disintegrating the weapon, the entire field disappeared. The security camera took a long stare at Sora, before the computerized voice continued. "It appears that the item you are carrying has caused a fatal error in the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill. We request that the equipment on you be discarded before entering anymore test chambers."

Of course, her demands went ignored, as Sora walked towards the elevator, seeing someone familiar attempting to scale the walls. "Who's there!?" Luigi called out, extremely paranoid about his surroundings.

"Just me," a familiar, rough voice called out, attempting to scale up past where the elevator was.

"Oh," Luigi sighed relief, "it's just Raiden, okay— wait, Raiden!?" Luigi glanced up at the cyborg, who again, was scaling past the elevator.

"R-Raiden! Raiden is there!?" Otacon called out from the codec. "Snake told me he recovered quickly, but I didn't think— how did he end up here?" All of them were ignored, as Raiden kept scaling up the shaft, just before the real elevator could come down.

This was definitely strange, it looked like Raiden got here on his own in some way. Sora was definitely going to need his side of the story to fully understand this.

"Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill," the computerized voice called out, "which may, in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."

… And there was the matter of that AI pestering them as they went along.

_

Once Sora and his friends arrived on the next floor, they were met with yet another white room, which had some kind of device in the center. However, their path to getting it was blocked by a glass. A door opened, allowing Sora and his friends to walk down the steps, but again, it was a dead end.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Toad grumbled. "We can't jump over this wall, and I don't think we can squeeze through that hole!" He peeked through the small, square indentation, seeing the device rotate slowly, firing at walls. and creating blue portals. Eventually, it pointed in their direction, firing and forcing Sora's friends to jump out of the way, uncertain what was to come.

The blast of blue hit the wall, creating a portal near them. Sora, with little hesitation, walked right through it with his friends, coming out of an orange gap which just happened to be positioned near the device. Touching it, Sora could see that the device had a space where he could put his hand inside, allowing him to pull the triggers on it.

"Very good! You are now in possession of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device." The computer voice chimed. "With it, you can create your own portals. These intra-dimensional gates have proven to be completely safe. The device, however, has not. Do not touch the operational end of the device. Do not look directly at the operational end of the device. Do not submerge the device in liquid, even partially."

Confused, Sora tested the device, firing a blue portal at the wall close to the next elevator door. He entered the orange one with his friends, coming out of where the blue one was placed. "Excellent. As part of a required test protocol, we will not monitor the next test chamber. You will be entirely on your own. Good luck!"

"I could get used to this," Sora said to himself, liking the idea of creating portals to wherever he pleased. Though, it seemed the device definitely had its limits. Portals couldn't be made on metal surfaces, and he didn't have anything to create orange portals either.

Maybe there's another half of the device that's missing.

_

It was so quiet, Sora wasn't even sure if there were any Heartless in this world, if it was a world. It really just seemed like a stranded laboratory. It made the place eerie and quiet, like something could sneak up on them at any given time.

"Alright, so," Sora muttered, "let's solve this test, I suppose. What do we have to do here?" Looking at the two buttons that were on the floor. A weighted storage cube was on top of a platform on one end, far out of reach, while the other appeared to be stuck in a pit. There was an orange portal open to the other platform across the first one, but the gap was too large for one to jump from one to the other.

Creating a blue portal, Sora stepped inside and walked out of the orange end, now on one of the platforms. He then fired the device at the gap which had one of the cube, watching the portal practically swallow it. The cube was now on his end, as he tossed it to Luigi, who carried the cube over to one of the buttons. Sora then fired the portal device at the other end, going back into the orange portal so he could walk out the other side, and get the other cube that was there.

This time, Sora dropped down, placing the other cube on the switch. "Say, that computer isn't watching us, right?" Toad wondered. "What happens if you put a portal on the wall that has the camera up there?"

"Huh," Sora thought about it. "Good question, I didn't really think about it. I don't think they'll mind too much, right? They're not monitoring us." Pointing the portal device at the wall with the security camera, which wasn't moving, he was startled as the camera immediately disconnected from the wall, hitting Luigi on the head.

"You're not a good person. You know that, right?"

Luigi was far too frightened by the sudden voice to react to any pain, making him jump back. "As part of a required test protocol, our previous statement suggesting that we would not monitor this chamber was an outright fabrication."

Uneasy, Sora looked at the door, which was now open with the two cubes placed on the buttons. He proceeded regardless, but not before apologizing to Luigi for what had happened.

"As part of a required test protocol, we will stop enhancing the truth in three... Two... One—"

The last part fizzled out, as Sora made his way to the next test chamber.

_

"Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable." The computer declared, as Sora entered the next chamber. "It has been replaced with a live-fire course designed for military androids."

"What!?" Toad exclaimed.

"The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck."

"Hey, wait—" Toad couldn't help but growl when the AI cut out and ignored him. Sora could see small, white robots, which had a small laser come out of their eye made of lens.

"How could this place set a complete death trap, and expect humans to go through it without being hurt?" Sora wondered, looking around the test chamber. At the corner of his eye, Sora could see some weighted storage cubes, prying part of the wall panels open, which was held in place by some kind of piston. Sora examined it, realizing that not only could he crawl through, but there was actually someone inside.

It was Raiden, with a green piece that looked like it went with the Gummi Ship at his feet, and an orange portal device in his arms. Near him appeared to be some kind of sphere made of metal, a blue light coming from the eye of it, surprisingly capable of speech as it spotted Sora.

"Oh, good, these must be the friends you mentioned! Hello! Name's Wheatley, you're all the back-up help, right? This is perfect, why, I didn't think it would be possible for anyone to step in here and live!"

Needless to say, Sora was rightfully surprised by how chatty this character was. He wasn't even sure if he could respond to all of that, especially when Raiden's presence was currently a more pressing matter. "Raiden, how did you get here? I thought you were with Snake, recovering."

"I was," Raiden replied, "I got better, that was when I picked a distress signal. I rented an aircraft from Fox to check it out myself, since it sounded desperate, had to do with someone meddling with the artificial intelligence here." Looking over to Wheatley, Raiden grumbled. "Turns out this moron here was responsible for pulling me in and calling me—"

"I am not a moron!" Wheatley snapped.

"You forgot to turn off the tractor, pulling Sora into all of this." Raiden retorted, handing the orange half of the portal device to Sora. "Now tell them what's going on."

"Right," Wheatley stammered, "right, so I'm a personality construct, and there's a bunch of us in storage, right? A whole bunch of us, intended to plug into the main AI who controls everything— that would be GLaDOS, the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System. No one else but her, though I've managed to shimmy myself in these walls. Not like she can stop me anyhow—"

"Stay on track!"

"Sorry! Anyhow, so GLaDOS has four personality cores in her, one of which, morality, was recently removed! So she could kill people and do whatever she likes, she already has done the former in the past. I've been calling for help so the morality core can be plugged back into her, and those intruders get out of here!"

Sora and Toad blinked in unison, while Luigi gasped. "Wait, did you just say that computer can kill people!?"

"Oh, she's done it. Yeah, all the scientists around here? They're all gone." With that, Luigi immediately fainted. "Except one of them I think, he runs in and out of here, make this uh, little den here. So I wouldn't recommend pushing her buttons and all if you want to live. I was calling for help, since… it's not like I can just shove the morality core back to her, look at me! I have no arms! So I took control of part of the system, just so someone could come in and help us out. But this is great, not only is there a cyborg, but now there's a whole team! And you all know each other!" Wheatley laughed, turning his attention to Raiden, who had already walked off. "Uh, Raiden? Hey, where'd you go!?"

He was gone, nowhere in sight. "Looks like he didn't wanna listen anymore. Anyway, to shorten things, that computer is rogue, and she needs her morality plugged back in? No problem!" Toad exclaimed, reviving Luigi back onto his feet.

"Thanks a lot in advance, but do be careful out there. I mean, she's literally sending you out against androids that can fire at will, I'm pretty certain she's just waiting for you to die in here."  
During his chatter, Sora decided to take the green piece of Gummi Ship and examine the unusual den that they were currently inside, taking note of the bedding made of cardboard boxes, the empty cans of beans, as well as the words "the cake is a lie" being scribbled all over the walls. Sora almost didn't even notice the Pokéballs that were tucked away in a corner, quickly running to gather them.

The Pokédex confirmed that the creatures inside were known Porygon, Steelix, and Beheeyem. Quite the odd ones, but fitting for the place they were in.

Once they exited, leaving Wheatley to talk to himself, Sora took note of the fact nearly all of the turrets from earlier had been sliced into pieces. It appeared that Raiden had done his work, even on the security cameras, which seemed a bit excessive. Thankfully, it appeared that GLaDOS wasn't able to detect him, due to his great skills in stealth.

"The Enrichment Center is committed to the well being of all participants. Cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test." GLaDOS said over the speakers.

"Cake? Alright!" Toad cheered.

"The cake is a lie…" Sora muttered to himself, recalling what he saw on the walls.

_

The next test chamber, GLaDOS seemed back to chatting again, keeping a close eye on Sora's portal device with the security cameras. "As part of an optional test protocol, we are pleased to present an amusing fact: The Device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in your hometown."

Sora looked down at the device and shook his head, obviously unamused. "The experiment is nearing its conclusion," GLaDOS stated. "When you are done, you will drop the Device in the equipment recovery annex, Enrichment Center regulations require both hands to be empty before any cake can be served."

Obviously, this machine wasn't to be trusted, but Sora was going to try and get through the test anyway. Carefully looking at what exactly was going on, Sora could see a sphere of some kind, bouncing off of a wall panel and back. "While safety is one of many Enrichment Center goals, the Aperture Science High Energy Pellet, seen to the left of the chamber, can and has caused permanent disabilities such as vaporization. Please be careful."

Sora glanced at a hatch that was right next to the machine that deployed the energy pellet. He immediately realized what he had to do, creating a portal on the wall that the pellet was continuously hitting, and another just below the hatch, making the pellet enter and start powering the hatch with energy.

Just before he could progress any further, Sora halted himself, seeing three Pokéballs behind the parted wall panels. He quickly grabbed them, and read the entries of Metagross, Magnezone, and Klinklang, before Luigi eventually directed Sora's attention to a platform, which began to move.

All three of them jumped on, ducking under a metal beam to avoid falling into the disgusting, acidic looking water that was below them. "The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake," GLaDOS announced.

"What was that she said?" Toad asked.

Another energy pellet was ahead. Sora created a portal on the wall it was colliding with like last time, but then made another one so it wouldn't come back to hit them. Up ahead not too later on, was a wall panel, which the platform was going to run itself into. Sora immediately made two new portals, one on the wall, and one properly on the path, so they could jump on the platform when it came to that point.

It was a risky jump, but Sora and his friends made it, being careful not to bump each other into the acidic pit below. "Alright, look!" Toad pointed out to the glowing cake sign, smiling brightly. "Is this it already? Man, that was too easy!"

"Congratulations," GLaDOS announced, "the test is now over. All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin."

"Wait, 4000 degrees what?"

All three of them turned around, seeing where the platform was taking them, and all began collectively screaming.

"AAAAAAAH!"

"Thank you for participating in this Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment activity, outsiders," GLaDOS said, a bit more menacingly this time around. "Goodbye."

"Sora, you gotta think of something fast, or we're toast!" Toad cried out.  
"Can any of our summoned friends fly!?" Luigi whimpered.

There was a risky shot, just above the fiery pit. Sora pointed the portal device from afar, managing to land an orange portal there. He then looked at one of the walls surrounded in flames. "It's our only chance, come on guys!" Blasting a blue portal at the closest wall, Sora took a leap of faith.

He made it. He somehow made it, with Luigi and Toad following soon after.

"What are you doing? Stop it! I—" Glitching out of control, GLaDOS reverted to her original personality. "We are pleased that you made it through the final challenge where we pretended we were going to murder you! We are very, very happy for your success."

Sora and the others immediately ignored her, going through and open door, going through the more unhealthy and rusted side of the facility. "Place the device on the ground then lie on your stomach with your arms at your sides. A party associate will arrive shortly to collect you for your party! Make no further attempt to leave the testing area, or the device will detonate."

Through the door, up the broken, rickety stairs, creating a portal past a giant fan and another on a wall, Sora and his friends were just attempting to find a way to survive. They hoped that Raiden did not get caught up in all of this either, because they knew that GLaDOS could get rid of all of them if she so pleased.

"Hello?" She asked. "Where are you? I know you're there. I can feel you here. I'm not angry. Just go back to the testing area, this isn't safe." Again, she was ignored, as Sora as his friends went into an office, finding that what Wheatley said was true. There were no scientists in the areas that had windows, where Sora initially believed he was being watched. On top of that, there was a yellow-orange gem tucked under a desk.

Another person trapped in this realm. Sora would make sure to get them out at least when this was over. Creating a portal to a higher ledge, Sora made his way to a large tube. "Alright, who wants to go first—"

To his surprise, Luigi and Toad jumped in before he could, even though Sora was only teasing. It seemed that this was the norm for Luigi, as opposed to something frightening for him.

"Okay. The test is over. You win. Go back to the recovery annex. For your cake." GLaDOS nagged, unaware that they were all moving around so quickly. "It was a fun test and we're all impressed at how much you won. The test is over. Come back."

Soon, Sora and his friends ended up in an old test chamber, one they had not seen before, with the elevator on the other side not functioning. "Uh oh. Somebody cut the cake," GLaDOS started again, "I told them to wait for you, but they did it anyway. There is still some left, though, if you hurry back."

"Aw man, there better be some left for me!" Toad grumbled.

"Didn't we have some fun, though? Remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit and I said 'Goodbye' and you were like 'AAAAAAAH' and then I was all 'I was just pretending to murder you'?" GLaDOS asked, unaware that Sora and his friends were now far below where the elevator functions where.

"Fun? What's the fun in all of this!?" Sora retorted, somehow making his way past the pistons which were violently banging together.

"But Sora, I thought you liked fun!"

Turning his head suddenly, Sora darted his eyes around the area, recognizing the voice.

"Or are you too cool to have fun now that you have the Keyblade?"  
"Riku!" Sora exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"  
"How did he get here in my question," Luigi muttered.  
"Just followed that friend of yours, Raiden, was it?"  
"You know what I mean!" Sora yelled. "What about Kairi? Did you find her?"  
"Maybe," Riku replied, "catch me and maybe I'll tell you what I know."  
"Come on!" Sora groaned in annoyance.

To make things worse, right when Riku left, an amount of Heartless began to spawn. Some of them poked their limbs out of weighted storage cubes, having legs akin to spiders. Yellow Operas surrounded the area, flinging their thunder magic down at Sora and his friends. He really had no desire to deal with all of them, as Sora had a feeling GLaDOS would try to get rid of him and everyone else if they wasted anymore time down below.

Tossing one of the Pokéballs he found, uncertain which one it would be, Magnezone was released. It made a whirring sound, pointing its magnets at the group of Heartless before unleashing a powerful Flash Cannon attack. Sora and company proceeded to finish off the rest, just wanting to get out of here as soon as they could.

"This is your fault," GLaDOS said as the battle went on, Sora making his way through the sewer part of the area, killing more Heartless "It didn't have to be like this, outsiders. I was curious about you, I only wanted to learn more, but you have to go and pretend to be brave."

Just where did Riku go? Or Raiden for that matter?

_

"Why do you still care about that boy?" Dracula questioned, sitting in one of the abandoned offices, while Riku looked at some of the failed experiments on a clipboard that were left behind. "He has all but deserted you for that Keyblade and his new companions, after all. You have seen it yourself."

"I don't care about him," Riku replied, putting the clipboard down. "I was just messing with him a little."

"Of course you were," Dracula sighed. "I worry about this, you know. Beware the darkness in your heart. For the Heartless prey upon it."

"Mind your own—"

"I'm not kidding now, turn back, or I will kill you," GLaDOS yelled over the speakers.

"Ah yes, and then there's the matter of that AI," Dracula muttered, "do not stay here too long with that boy, for I fear she will turn on the neurotoxins soon. I cannot risk anything happening to you." With that, Dracula vanished, much like he did when Sora encountered him.

"Riku!"

Speaking of the devil…

"What's the matter with you!?" Sora snapped. "What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora." Riku scoffed. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade of yours. Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"I—"

"I'm going to kill you," GLaDOS spoke, "and all the cake is gone."  
"NO!" Toad shouted.  
"You don't even care, do you?"  
"I do care!" Toad cried.

"You chose this path, now I shall kill you slowly. Turning on neurotoxins in three, two—"  
"AGH!"

That was definitely Raiden's voice just now, no mistaking it, even Riku seemed surprised, as did GLaDOS. "Time out for a second, that wasn't supposed to happen," GLaDOS spoke, "there seems to be something in here besides myself, doing the killing for me. I can't see what it is, but I can feel it there… Never mind. It's a mystery I'll solve later."

Both Sora and Riku made a break for it, running out of the offices and towards an open vent, with the words "over here" scrawled on the wall. Sora climbed through, creating a portal past a dangerous-looking fan, and then crawled out to make another one on the wall. "This way, c'mon!"

_

Sora, Riku, Luigi and Toad soon found themselves in the muck of the sewage passage. Sora made another portal on the sewer walls, then up above so he could at least get out of there. His friends soon followed, shocked at what they all saw next.

A giant Heartless, its appearance resembling a cage. Inside was Raiden, unable to escape, his movements nearly paralyzed from the cage. "Sora," he muttered, "be careful!"

Riku, giving a smug look, unsheathed a peculiar, dark-looking weapon, the blades shaped like red bat wings. "You up for this?" He asked.

"No problem!" Sora replied, getting into a battling position. "Let's do this!" With that, he charged at the Heartless monster, better known as the Parasite Cage. Sora and Riku began swinging their weapons at the monster, Luigi prepared his ice magic, while Toad bashed the creature with his shields. They tried their hardest to make sure Raiden wasn't harmed, who thankfully tucked himself further into the cage, trying his hardest to stab the insides of the Heartless, even though he was far too weakened to do anything.

The Heartless swung it's left tentacle at the group, all while absorbing the sewage and whatever toxic fluids were in the facility with the rest of its smaller tendrils, which were fused in with the floor. It was no wonder GLaDOS could somehow feel it, as this being was probably sucking in neurotoxins. It swung its right tentacle this time, getting a successful hit on Sora, who didn't see it coming. Thankfully it didn't hurt too badly, but it did feel rather disgusting.

It soon began spraying acid at them, which actually did do a lot of harm for Sora and Luigi. Riku grunted in annoyance, watching Sora more concerned about sharing a healing item with Luigi, so that way Toad didn't have to lower his guard. Viciously, everyone kept attacking the Heartless, which Riku finished with one last blow.

"Too easy," Riku muttered as he stepped back. Sora, Luigi, and Toad did the same, watching the Parasite Cage start twisting and gurgling. Reaching its tentacles up for the ceiling of the facility, Riku grabbed onto it. "Oh no you don't!" He tried to stab it one last time, the Parasicte Cage spitting Raiden out, before succumbing to its pain. It exploded into puffs of toxic gas and fluids, leaving Riku to pursue Raiden.

Confused, Sora looked up to where they just went, before carefully tailing after them, having no choice but to create a portal in order to progress to the elevated levels above.  
"Raiden!" The familiar, irritating Wheatley said, popping himself out of a metal panel. "Oh thank goodness, there you are! Hey, hey, your friend, I forgot his name, was worried about you, looking all over— are you okay? Raiden? Wait uh, who are you?"

"Geez, you're chatty," Riku muttered, "sorry numbskull, but I have some unfinished business with this cyborg here." Lifting Raiden off the ground, Riku grunted, not realizing how heavy Raiden was. He had no choice but to carry him over his shoulders. "Where's Drac when I need him? I can't do this by myself." Riku grumbled.

"Cyborg? Hold on, no, he's helping me— I mean us! We need this brave soldier to get the morality core back!"

"Brave soldier isn't far off. He's a strange one, I'll give you that. Despite his body parts being made of artificial materials, he has a heart. Cyborgs aren't meant to have them as far as I know, I'm not sure. But what I do know, is that maybe he can help someone who lost theirs."

"Wait a minute," Sora said, having caught up just in time. "Are you talking about Kairi?"  
"What do you care about her?"  
"Riku, wait—"

"Did you just destroy that thing that was probably meant to kill you? I was going to leave whatever was in me to do the work, even though I had no idea what it was, but it looks like I'll have to turn on the neurotoxins after all."

Oh, right. There was also the matter of GLaDOS.

_

Sora found himself crossing through a corridor made of glass. The room was dark, and he could see Riku standing ahead with Raiden on the ground. It appeared that Riku had to take a break, since he couldn't bear carrying the cyborg any further.

"Hey!" Sora shouted, getting the other boy's attention. "Let Raiden go, Riku!"

"A cyborg that lost his heart to the Heartless… Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi." Riku stated, holding his arm out. "How about it Sora? Let's join forces to save her! We can do it together." Riku walked over to Sora, but instead, Sora raised his Keyblade, feeling threatened. Luigi and Toad also got into defensive positions, surprising Riku. "What? You'd rather fight me? Over a robotic guy with no heart?"

"Heart or no heart," Sora replied, "he still has a conscience."  
"Conscience?"

"You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear," Sora explained. "And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice."

"RAIDEN!" A voice shouted over the codec, belonging to Snake.  
"Oh god, Raiden, say something!" Otacon also cried out.

"I… I'm not…" Raiden held on, hearing the voice of his allies on the codec before getting up. "No, I'm okay, everything is fine," Raiden said, smiling. "Nothing is wrong, I'm surrounded by people who care, and will fight for me. No need for me to feel weak or lost."

Sora's face beamed cheerfully, while Riku gave a look of intense disappointment. The joyous moment was short-lived however.

"Well, you found me." Revealing her position to where Riku was, a large machine, hanging by wires, having three cores similar in design to Wheatley attached to her. "Congratulations. Was it worth it?" The body of the machine was surrounded by TV monitors, the room itself even having them, witch images flashing on the screen. "I have no idea where you outsiders came from, or what you plan on doing to this place, all I know is that the little idiot called upon most of you, so you could all try and fix me. Well I don't need fixing. Get comfortable, while I turn on the neurotoxins."

A green gas was emitted from the vents. Sora was so distracted by it that he didn't even see Riku escape through a dark void. Raiden remained where he was, uncertain what he should do next, other than help Sora fight. "We were supposed to find the morality core and then confront her," Raiden sighed, "but it looked like we'll have to knock her around so she's at least out of commission first. Dunno why we can't just take her apart and replace her AI entirely."

Sora and Raiden jumped up to where GLaDOS was, slicing at her wires and parts, unaware of the rocket turret that was coming up from the floor. "If you want my advice, intruders, just lie down in front of the rocket turret over there. It will be a lot less painful than the neurotoxin, and I sadly can't get the neurotoxin into your head any faster!" Violently swinging around from each hit, GLaDOS managed to knock Sora away from her.

He was dazed for a short moment, the harsh impact combined with the neurotoxins messing with his head was not the best combination. Looking around, Sora saw a set of Pokéballs behind an incinerator, collecting them before going back into the battle with everyone. "This isn't brave. It's murder. What did I ever do to you?" GLaDOS asked quietly, staring down at Luigi and Toad with her single eye.

"You tried to kill us and refused us cake!" Toad shouted, bashing his shield violently against the AI.

"The difference between me and the rest of you is that I can feel pain. You don't even care." GLaDOS said, making Luigi hesitate on using anymore spells.

"She's just trying to mess with you, ignore it! Anyone can feel pain!" Raiden retorted. Sora jumped back into the battle, making sure to avoid the rocket turret that was constantly attempting to aim for him with a laser. The metallic, armor parts protecting GLaDOS began to fall off slowly, the TV screens rapidly flashing images.

Making a horrible, garbled noise, GLaDOS choked before speaking. "You think you're doing some damage?" She asked mockingly, before checking her systems. "Two plus two is— ten. Look, you're wasting your time. And, believe me, you don't have a whole lot left to waste. See the time ticking up there? That's how much left is to survive, unless you want the rocket to end it sooner."

"If we're wasting our times, what do you think we should be doing!?" Sora yelled, swiping his Keyblade at GLaDOS.

"Laying down and dyi—iiiiiiiiing," the last part was extremely garbled, not helped by several wires getting cut by Raiden, or burned by Luigi. "Stop squirming and die like an adult, you obnoxious child! No matter what you do to me, you'll die, you're not going to make it out of here, alive."

Eventually, Luigi, getting tired of being threatened and spoken to so horribly, powered up his electric magic and shocked GLaDOS, making her glitch out further and giving enough time for Raiden, who disconnected GLaDOS entirely from her wires.

Her speech and laughter garbled, GLaDOS was literally screaming at her enemies. "AAAARGH I HATE YOU," she shouted, her voice slowly fizzling away from disconnection. "You can try to escape, but you'll still die— where are the neurotoxins? Why are they shutting down? They should keep going. You little worm, you broke in here, broke my heart by avoiding me, and then killed me rather than installing morality back into me. You're a monster. A bad person. An idiot that no one likes—"

As she continued ranting, Sora stepped back, feeling unnerved. "If she was a human," he mumbled, "her heart would definitely be gone, if it wasn't already."

"You're not smart! You're not a scientist! You're not a doctor! You're not even a full-time employee!" As she began breaking apart, she whimpered out, her voice fizzling out one last time. "There really waaaaas a caaaaaake." After that, she toppled over, deactivated.

The rocket turrets were turned off, leaving Sora there, exhausted. "Where," he started, "where did Riku go? Rik— AGH!"

Crying out in pain, GLaDOS, with her remaining anger, shocked Sora, but not enough to do any real damage to him. He fell to the ground, feeling a surge of energy through his body, but then immediately got up.

For some reason, it felt more like her gained something, like some kind of power awakened within him. "Sora, are you alright!?" Raiden asked.

"Yeah, I'm just, shocked." Sora replied. "Uh, no pun intended."

"That's a relief," Raiden sighed, "sorry I ran off earlier. I was trying to look in a storage area that the talkative moron mentioned. I couldn't the morality core down there though, just some desert. I looked just about everywhere in this facility before that thing caught me. I'm almost wondering if it isn't even here."

Toad's eyes then lit up. "Wait, did you say a desert? What kind?"  
"Uh, I don't know, I think it was a chocolate cake—"  
"Yahoo!" Toad cheered. "Raiden, take us there, please!"  
"Toad, are you serious?" Sora laughed.

"We deserve a reward for our hard work. We didn't find the morality core or whatever, but was saved Raiden, stopped that crazy computer until we get her core back, and saw your one friend! Sure, he got away before we could do more, but I think we all deserve a treat!"

Sora would have argued that Toad was being kind of childish, but maybe he was right… after all, all of this did somehow work up Sora's appetite.

"Alright, if it makes you feel better. Raiden, could you take us there?"  
"Not a problem, I should be thanking you anyway." Raiden replied with a nod.

_

Riku stood there inside of the mothership, staring at the red-haired girl, Kairi, who was lying down.

… Well, that was after he had to chase off one of those aliens, who was trying to foolishly see if he could wake her up.

"Apologies for the behavior of Pox," Dracula said, "he just has the same intentions as you do. He wanted to awaken her." Riku didn't respond, as he kept staring at the girl, one of his longtime friends, now completely unconscious.

"So," he mumbled, "Kairi's all lifeless now?"  
"Correct, I'm afraid." Dracula replied.  
"And her heart was—"  
"Taken by the Heartless, no doubt."

Turning around violently, Riku glared at Dracula. "Tell me!" He snapped. "What can I do!?"

"I am glad you asked. There are seven maidens, all of them with the purest heart. Should they be gathered together, a door will open to the hearts of all worlds. There, you will surely find a way to recover your dear friend's heart." Opening his cape, Dracula smiled. "Child, I shall grant you a new power, consider a gift… The ability to control the Heartless."

A glow surrounded Riku's body, dark in color. He glanced back at the unconscious Kairi, becoming increasingly angry over Sora betraying her for a mere cyborg.

"Soon Kairi, soon. You'll be okay. I promise."

"In the meantime!" Pox shouted from the other room, irritated that his lab had been overtaken by humans and a vampire. "Crypto and the others shall be fetching what you had asked for, Dracula!"

_

Under the deep storage area, Sora found three more Pokéballs, making him remember that he didn't check on the last few he found with GLaDOS. Quickly opening the Pokédex, Sora examined them. "Hydreigon, Kelfki, Magearna," he said to himself. Taking the next three that was hiding in the shelves of personality cores, Sora checked them next. "Rotom, Hoopa, Abra." He then looked over to Toad, who was excitedly jumping around the cake that was on a table.

"Toad, I'm just saying, we don't know who made it," Luigi stammered. "Or what's in it. What if that scary computer baked this, and it's more poison?"

"No way!" Toad exclaimed. "Huh? Hey, someone already cut it and took a piece out! There's a hole in it!"

Raising his head, Sora walked over and looked at the cake's other side, seeing there was a keyhole there.

"No way," he said to himself, "this is the most ridiculous one yet."

Pointing his Keyblade at the cake of all things, a small beam was fired into the hole, leaving Sora with the oh-so-satisfying clicking sound of something being locked. "So that's why that Heartless was here, there was a keyhole hiding here this whole time!"

"So… can we eat the cake, or not?" Toad wondered.

_

The round, mustached man grumbled, looking over to the lanky robot and the short alien. "Someone hand me something over here to salvage this AI already!"

"Okay, okay, keep your pants on, egghead!" The alien growled. "Will a potato battery do?"  
"Potato battery!?" The robotic one shrieked.

"Yes, it will do just fine." The mustached man took the potato battery from the alien, carefully installing GLaDOS with the help of the tall robot, the latter grumbling about how pitiful this was. They could have used anything else, but it had to be a potato, since they didn't have anything portable on hand at the moment.

There was the sound of glitching, and then reactivation. "Resuming neurotoxins in three, two— wait, wait, whoa. Where am I? Why is my body down there?" GLaDOS questioned. "Oh lovely. I'm stuck in a potato, of all the things. Were you responsible for this, you fat little—"

"Calm down, you were already beyond repair. We all have a use for you!"  
"I am not to be used by a disgusting human like yourself."  
"Well, I won't be the one using you! That will be up to Dracula."  
"Are you kidding me?"

"Good thing Drac asked us to remove that morality core, otherwise she wouldn't be this easy for all of us to use!" The short alien laughed, with GLaDOS slowly connecting the pieces together.

"Come to think of it, I thought I saw something worming around here earlier, but I thought it was just a glitch… Ohhhh, you're the one who uninstalled the morality core, which kept me from unleashing those deadly neurotoxins."

"That would be me!" The alien cackled further.

"Well, I wasn't like I needed it. But still, I am not to be used as a pawn by the likes of any of you." Both the round man and the alien ignored her, as they carried the potato battery back to a void. "Are you even listening to me?"

The tall robot meanwhile, just looked at GLaDOS, who was sighing in irritation. "So, uh," he cleared his metal throat, "you like to kill squishies too?"

"This is not happening," GLaDOS complained.

_

On the way out through the Gummi Ship, Sora realized something he didn't before upon defeating GLaDOS. When she had shocked him, she indirectly gave him a new spell, that being Thunder. "Wow," Sora said with a smile, "my magic is getting just as good as Luigi's!"

"Whaaa!?" Luigi exclaimed.

"Oh, no offense or anything! It's not like I'm replacing you!" Sora reassured. "It just means the both of us can work together with magic now. Like in the instances where we can't just use pure melee attacks and all, y'know?" Sora laughed nervously, as Luigi seemed to calm down and nod in understanding. "Anyway, we couldn't find the morality core there, even though Wheatley was begging us to."

"He's just going to have to be patient." Raiden muttered. "In the meantime, we can all stop at the town. I'm going to keep searching, because I got a feeling that the core is somewhere outside of that lab." It wasn't a bad plan. Sora had to make a stop there anyhow, and unleash whoever was inside of the gem he had found there.

They did exactly that. Once they landed back in Traverse Town, Raiden took his leave, thanking Sora once again, and then continuing his search, this time with Snake's help. Quickly making their way to the observatory, Sora prayed that whoever was in this gem wasn't going to be questioning them at every turn like the last two did.

"Rosalina—"  
"Another gem?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Sora handed it to her, awaiting for whoever was trapped to be freed. Just like before with Ash and Samus, there was a bright glow, before it finally faded. The gem was gone, and now a woman stood there. She wore a brown jacket, having tight, orange pants with goggles that matched. The most peculiar thing was the blue, glowing object, which appeared to be wedged into her chest.

"Whew, why this isn't exactly what I had in mind, but at least I'm still alive here." She sighed in relief, holding her chest and looking around, before laying her attention on Rosalina and Sora. "Did you save me from death just now?"

"Yes. It was Sora here who found you and brought you back."

"Cheers then! I thank you for that! They call me Tracer, I'm part of the Overwatch. Just uh, where am I exactly? Where's the rest of the team?"

"Explanation time has come again," Rosalina giggled, as Tracer glanced over to Samus, Marcus, and Ash Ketchum. "Those three over there were in a predicament similar to yourself. I'll explain everything, don't worry."

This was definitely a nice change. Tracer seemed like a cheerful, friendly character unlike the last two. Definitely seemed to be the cooperative type too, which Sora was going to need.

[end chapter]


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 7

Combat Evolved

After the explanations were done and Tracer went out to look around Traverse Town, Dr. Light was just finishing up a conversation on his communication screen. "Sora, come over here please." As Sora walked over, there was a sudden bright flash, then Dr. Light took something from where the flash came from. Sora was surprised to see two flash drives in Dr. Light's hand. "It appears that one of the Pokemon that you rescued had one of the Minecraft data bits with it. Raiden had the other one, but he forgot about it due to almost being eaten by that huge Heartless."

"Great! That'll really help Steve. But what was that light?"

"Oh. With Professor Oak's help, I finally finished the teleportation devices! Several of the heroes that have made their way here want to help out the best they can, so we made things a bit easier to get around. The only problem is that with so many worlds, there is much difficulty in pinpointing the destination. So we also made these portable beacons, they should be useful to you if you need backup."

"Thanks. But before we try them out, I'd better get this data back to Steve. He needs it."

"All right. Step into the transfer chamber and I'll send you on your way."

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

"Sora! Great timing!" Sora was happy to see that Steve was alright, and smiling. "You were able to find both my bow and my arrow!"

"Will that help with the next group of enemies?"

"Yep! These will be a great help in fighting the Ender Dragons!"

"What?"

Before Sora could get a clarification on what Steve said, Steve was already running off. Sora followed against his better judgement, uneasy on what they were heading for. His uneasiness was confirmed as he saw about 5 black dragons flying through the air, shooting fireballs at the ground. And Steve was just charging ahead like there was nothing to worry about. "How is a bow and arrow supposed to stop that?!"

"One arrow at a time." Steve started to aim and fire, getting the dragons' attention. The reaction was predictable, as a rain of fireballs started to come down on the two of them. They were able to dodge it, thankfully, and surprisingly for Sora, as he didn't anticipate their blocky legs to be so agile and fast.

Further thinking would have to wait, as another barrage of of fireballs came roaring in. Without thinking, Sora just swung his Keyblade at them, successfully repelling them back at the dragons. As a counterattack though, it was a bit lacking. Some of the fireballs fell short of hitting his opponents, and other fireballs only served to block other fireballs. Successful hits only averaged about 1 in 5. It looked like the battle was going to be a long when he heard the Codec ring.

"This still works in here?"

"Yes. Me and Professor Oak figured out how. Anyway, is your situation good? Toad's here saying that they got word from Ratchet that Shao Khan is moving again with another tournament, and Kratos and the others can really use your help for this one."

"I'll try to be quick but it's tough dealing with all these dragons!"

"Did he say dragons?"

"Ash, is that you?"

"Yeah, and the answer to your dragon problem is easy! Just use ice!"

"Ice?"

"Yeah. They're Dragon-Types, right? So they'll be vulnerable to ice!"

"..."

"These aren't Pokemon kid! They're real monsters!"

"Wait Toad! He may be on to something! Even if they're digital, dragons are commonly referred to as reptilian beasts! And reptiles hate the cold! Sora, quickly, try to freeze them!"

"OK, here goes nothing. Deep Freeze!"

Launching ice into the sky, it was able to work as a defensive measure against the fireballs, putting them out, before they could. And thankfully, it was able to reach the dragons. It didn't exactly do major damage, but the cold from the ice was able to slow down their movements, particularly in the wings, where they were more vulnerable. Unable to keep flapping, the dragons fell to the ground, where Steve was able to use his draining potions to finish them off.

"That takes care of them."

"Good. Something came up, and I need to hurry back."

"OK, I can clean up here. But Sora-"

"Yeah?"

"You have been a great help. Both in getting my weapons and defeating the Mobs, but you need to hurry. If I don't get the rest of my weapons soon, I might not survive what's coming."

"I understand. I'll be back soon."

"Thanks. And good luck."

As they landed near the arena, Sora went over the situation again. "OK, so Shao Khan's once again setting people up against a new champion, one who's even more dangerous than Scorpion, and the combatants need more help if they want to beat it."

"That covers it at best, young one."

"Sora and co. jumped at the voice, turning around to see a blue-clad ninja. "Do not worry. I am your ally. My name is Sub-Zero. If you want proof of where my ties lie, my companion may help my words."

Sub-Zero gestured to his side, revealing Kratos walking beside him. Sora was relieved to see that he was alright, but his relief vanished when he saw who came after Kratos.

"Woah, woah, woah. What's he doing here?" Toad pointed at Scorpion, standing with the Spartan, not making any hostile moves, yet. "It is alright now, Toad. Seeing how Scorpion's past was similar to mine, I was able to help him, and make him realize that he too was tricked as I was long ago. He has since severed ties with Shao Khan and joined our cause."

"I understand that gaining your trust will not be easy, but we can agree that we have a common foe in Shao Khan. And with his latest warrior fighting for him, we need all the fighters we can get to defeat him."

"All right, but who exactly is this warrior you all are talking about?" A loud gong sounded off, making a flock of birds fly off into the sky. "You are about to find out."

Entering the arena, Sora sense of uneasiness only grew as he noticed how quiet it was. He wanted to know what happened, but was too afraid to speak and break the silence. The tension got the better of him as he jumped to a loud bang. He turned to see that a large gate was violently swung open, and began to understand why the fighters were cautious.

A large, four-armed man stood before them. Seeming to be made entirely of muscle, he towered even over Kratos, his eyes filled with killing intent. "Well, if it isn't the youths from before." Everyone turned to see the old man from before, positioned in the stands above their opponent. "I would like for you to meet Goro. I told him about what you did, and he did not like it." Sora could then feel Goro's gaze striking through him. "So you are the one who denied your opponents honor by finishing their defeat. I will not make the same mistake as you."

"You will have to deal with me first!" Kratos charged forward, only to get blasted back by dark energy. Sora, Toad, and Luigi turned in horror to see a horde of Heartless charging from behind Goro. "Don't worry. They're only there to take care of any interlopers in the match." The Heartless swarmed over Kratos, burying him in darkness. It seemed like he was going to smother under the pitch-black entities until some blasts of magic and a shield blew them away.

"We've got this! You deal with…...that!" Left for words, Toad continued to blow away Heartless with Luigi, allowing Kratos to get back up and start turning the tide on the swarm. This allowed Sora, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero to go straight for Goro, who was leaving no openings.

Goro took a mighty swing at Scorpion, who quickly teleported out of the way. He reappeared behind Goro, but Goro saw it coming. He grabbed Scorpion and threw him straight at Sub-Zero, knocking them down. Sora tried to swing the Keyblade with all his might, but Goro blocked it with just one hand, not budging even an inch. Thinking fast, Sora let loose with a Thunder, shocking Goro's arm, but only enough to make him let go. Goro was quick to counterattack with another arm, and Sora was too slow to react in time.

A chain suddenly appeared a split-second before the blow hit, pulling Sora away from grievous harm. Landing on his backside, he looked up to Scorpion and Sub-Zero recovered from their initial shock. "Any ideas?"

"I think so." Scorpion pointed to Goro. "Look at the arm you shocked." Sora looked hard, seeing the arm was a little stiff, not moving as much as the other three. "If you can deliver a big enough shock in the center, you might be able to stop him for good."  
"OK, I'll try. But I need some time to build up the charge."  
"We'll give you that time."

Sub-Zero and Scorpion ran forward, using their speed and agility to dodge Goro's punches. Sora, after a few seconds of processing what just happened, began to concentrate, focusing all his magical energies into the Keyblade.

The battle was surprising low in action. The two ninjas did not try to attack as much as stay out of reach. They knew that Goro's blows were devastating, but it didn't mean much if it didn't connect. It was mainly a few minutes of cat-and-mouse, making the annoyance of Goro grow. It didn't help that his stamina was waning, so he had to finish the match quick.

With all his might put into it, he launched a hefty swing at Sub-Zero, making it too fast to evade. The blow connected, but instead of bones shattering, it was ice. Sub-Zero left behind one of his ice dummies, to trap Goro where he stood. Unfortunately, due to his large frame, the ice only traveled as far as two of his arms. Though they were currently frozen, all Goro needed to do was flex his arms and they would be free. But before he could concentrate on that, his free arms were suddenly ensnared by chains. He turned to see Scorpion holding on tight, then back to Sub-Zero, who was maintaining the ice on his arms.

"Sora! Now, while he is restrained!" At those words, Sora leapt forward, swinging the Keyblade down, hitting Goro's shoulder. Scorpion and Sub-Zero jumped back in time, as a large lightning bolt came down from the sky, slamming into Goro with all its might.

After a minute when everyone could see again, the smoke was done clearing, showing Goro still standing up. Everyone took a stance, but began to notice that Goro wasn't moving. Sora stepped closer, noticing that Goro's eyes were completely glazed over. He gave a gentle tap with his Keyblade, and Goro fell flat on his back with a loud thud, knocked unconscious by the shock.

"NO!" Everyone jumped at the sudden outburst, being reminded of the old man's presence. "You will pay for what you have done. Goro would have made your ends swift. But I will see you suffer!"

"Not today." Sora turned around to see Kratos aiming a bow at the old man, only to miss when he vanished into the shadows. "The coward fled."  
"But he'll be back. I would not be surprised if he was our next opponent."  
"Aaaawwww, can't we just-a get it over with-a?'  
"Nope. It looks like we have to back, again."  
"But we'll be ready. Nice job taking those Heartless, by the way."  
"Someone had to."  
"But why-a us?"  
"Thank you friends. It's obvious that your skills were of tremendous help. We would appreciate your help in the future, if possible."  
"Sure. We're need elsewhere right now, but call us whenever you need us, and we'll come."  
"We will?!"

Sora and Toad had to once again carry an unconscious Luigi as they departed for the next world.

_

Heading towards a distant corner of space, the three heroes spotted a sight that had them in awe. A giant ring floating in space, looking like there was life being supported on it. So transfixed were they in the mystery of the ring, that they failed to notice the incoming blaster fire.

"WOAH! What was that?!"  
"Someone's shooting at us!"  
"We're-a gonna die!"  
"No we're not! I'm getting us down!"  
"Can we even fly straight?!"  
"Don't worry, I can help you."

Everyone was surprised to hear a woman's voice come out of nowhere. And even more surprising was the Gummi Ship suddenly moving like it had a will of its own. "I hacked your ship controls. The landing will be bumpy, but you'll live. And good thing, cause I think I could use your help." Before any questions could be asked, the impact was felt as the Gummi Ship crashed through a steel wall, skidding to a halt at the far side of a large room. And in the center was a huge hologram depicting the ring they were on. And right next to it was a control panel, with a very confused man in green armor standing operating it.

Regaining his composure quickly, the man in armor pointed his gun at the heroes as they climbed out of the ship. "Who are you? Covenant?" A small orb floated in front of him. "No, no, we do not have time we need to insert the Activation Index into the panel to activate the Halo, and destroy the flood. I will delay these sudden interlopers." The orb flew to Sora and the others, as the man turned around back to the panel.

"Hello, I am 343 Guilty Spark, an AI in charge of this facility. And I need you not to do anything rash, as the Reclaimer over there is about to end the threat of the flood."  
"The what?"  
"The flood. A dangerous parasite that does nothing but infect living things and eat everything in their path. This weapon, Halo was designed to destroy them."  
"Do you think that's way we were called here by that woman? So we can help destroy the flood?"  
"What woman?"

As soon as the question was asked, the panel started to rev up, showing that the activation had started. But a few seconds after it started, it ended abruptly.  
"Odd. That wasn't supposed to happen."  
"Oh, really?"  
A hologram of a woman appeared over the panel, before emitting a white flash that knocked Guilty Spark to the ground. The man in armor turned to her in confusion. "Cortana…?"

"I have spent the last 12 hours, cooped up in here while you toady about, helping that thing get ready to slit our throats."  
"Now hold on, he's a friend."  
"Oh, I didn't realize. He's your pal, your chum? Do you have any idea what that thing almost made you do?!"  
"Yes, activate Halo's defenses and destroy the Flood. It is why we brought the Index to the control center."  
"You mean this?"  
"A construct? In the core? That is absolutely unacceptable."  
"Sod off!"  
"Such impertinence. I shall purge you at once!"  
"Are you sure that's a great idea?" The hologram revealed something in her hand.  
"Ho…...How dare you…...do…..!"  
"Do what? I have the Index! You can just float and sputter!"  
"Enough! The Flood is spreading. If we activate Halo's defenses, we can wipe them out."  
"You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the forerunners built it? Halo doesn't kill Flood. It kills their food. Humans, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo was designed to do. Wip the galaxy clean of all sentient life! You don't believe me? Ask him!"  
"Is it true?"

"More of less. Actually, this installation only has a range of 25,000 light-years. But once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life. There would be no sustainable biomass for the Flood. But you already knew that? I mean, how couldn't you?"  
"Left out that little detail, did he?"  
"We followed the break in containment process to the letter. You were with me every step through this crisis."  
"Chief, I'm picking up movement."  
Why would you hesitate to do what you've already done?"  
"We need to go. Right now!"  
"Last time you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time for pondering, there is no change. There is no choice. We must activate the ring."  
The armored man called Chief aimed his gun at Guilty Spark, while extracting some hardware from the panel and putting it into his helmet.  
"If you're unwilling to help, I will simply find another. Still, I must have the Index. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to take her from you."  
"That's not going to happen."  
"That goes double from us."

Everyone was reminded of Sora and friends' presence when they pointed their weapons at Guilty Spark as well. "It took us a while to understand what was going one, but now we know that she wanted help with was to stop you."  
"Oh dear, this is unexpected. I will need extra resources to deal with them."  
"Allow me, my fellow robot."

Everyone was taken off-guard by the sudden appearance of a humanoid robot. There was a dome on his head with machines spinning in it, and two metallic straps hanging from his shoulders, looking like the two sides of a cape. "And who, pray tell, are you?"

"Someone who understands the necessity of destroying organic life. But if you must know, I am Dr. Nefarious, your DOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

"Oh Lance, how sad it is when there is only room for you in only two of my three hearts!"

Everyone was understandably confused at what just happened. No one knew what to do until a robot dressed as a butler walked out from behind Nefarious. "Do pardon me." He then proceeded to deliver a firm smack to Nefarious's head.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Halo shall activate and wipe out all organic life! And after the Flood dies, the Age of Robots will finally come! And nothing will stop me, not even you, you squishy Keyblade brat!"  
"What? How do you know about the - ?"  
"No questions. They won't be answered. Especially since you'll be destroyed soon. And by one of the very squishies you seek to protect!" Nefarious pulled out a familiar red-and-white ball. "A Pokeball?!" Nefarious only grinned as he threw it, releasing a huge blue sea serpent. "You wanted to save these things, correct? Then how fitting that one of the most powerful shall bring about your destruction! Poke-Squishy, ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"How can that be Janet, when there is enough room for you, in all eight of mine?"

"Do pardon me again." Another smack.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" The large Pokemon roared as it lunged towards the heroes. They all jumped out of the way as its huge jaws slammed against the platform, denting it. Chief aimed his gun at the Pokemon, preparing to fire. "What are you doing?!" Sora jumped in front of Chief, blocking his view. "You can't shot it! It's innocent! We have to free it from - AAGH!" A huge wave of water huge Sora from behind, washing away both him and Chief.

"Oh no. W-what do we do-a now?"  
"We got to beat him ourselves!"  
"What?!"  
"You heard me, let's go - YAAAAAAAAA!"

Toad's confidence was quickly brushed away when the giant Pokemon blasted a huge stream of fire at the two fighters. Sora watched as he was shaking off water. "Innocent, you say?" Chief was obviously not amused. "We can beat it without killing it. But we need some help." Activating the Codec, he got in touch with Professor Oak. "Sora, my lad! How are you!"

"We're under attack from a Pokemon! We could use some advice!"  
"Oh dear, of course! Please describe it!"  
"It's like a huge blue snake! It's blasted both water and fire at us - yikes - make that a laser beam too!"  
"Oh my, it sounds like you're defending from a Gyarados, a Pokemon known for intense aggression!"  
"How do we beat it?"  
"Beat what?"  
"Ash! Good timing! Sora and the others are being attacked by a Gyarados!"  
"A Gyarados?...Professor, I'm going to go help them!"  
"What? You mean go there? But how?"  
"With something Dr. Light just finished making, I came here to tell you, but it looks like I'll be showing you. Come on!"  
"Wait, Ash!"

The Codec went silent as Sora was just confused. He didn't know what they meant and he didn't even get any advice for the fight. "So, nothing good, I take it?" Chief started to point his gun back at Gyarados. "NO! Don't kill it!"

"Why not? We got bigger problems than that! Compared to the survival of the galaxy, that thing's life is trivial."  
"It's not. It's home was destroyed, and it got separated from its friends. We have a chance now to reunite them, but we can't do that if it's no longer here with us!"  
"Don't care. Now get out of the way."  
"I'm not budging one - "

FLASH!

A bright light blinded both Sora and Chief as Ash and Pikachu came out of nowhere, ready to go. "Wait, what - ?" Ash turned to Sora. "Surprise! Dr. Light figured out a way to teleport us to you by tracing the Codec signal! Now we can help beat the Gyarados! Pikachu, Thunderbolt with everything you got!"

Pikachu ran forward towards Gyarados, running between it and Toad and Luigi, diverting its attention. Pikachu led the Gyarados to the far side of the room, where it stopped and turned around. "All right, now!"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIKAAAAAAAAAAAA…..CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

A tremendous amount of electricity came out of Pikachu's body, hitting the Gyarados head-on. Gyarados roared for a few seconds before falling to the ground, unconscious. "I-is it - ?"

"Don't worry, it's only knocked out. Being a water and flying type, electric attacks do massive damage to it."  
"But why did you come here to do it? You could have just told us and we would have hit it with Thunder."  
"I could, but I wanted to do this. You've done so much for me, the Professor, and most importantly, the Pokemon. If I couldn't do something in return, what kind of friend would I be?"  
"Hate to break up the cheery moment, but what do we do for when that thing wakes up?"  
"Uh, I think we've got a bigger problem here, guys. Take a look."

Sora and the others went to where Toad was looking over Gyarados, showing something funny that was hidden behind its head. "A collar?"

"Do you think this was what was used to make him attack us?"  
"How cruel."  
"Can we take it off?"  
"Wait, I'm getting a call on the Codec!"  
Sora answered, revealing Ratchet on the other side.  
"Sora! I heard you encountered Nefarious!"  
"Yes, do you know him?"  
"He's from our world! He's the reason it was destroyed!"  
"What?! Wait, now's not the time. If you know him, then can you figure out what this collar is?"  
"I shall analyze it, Sora. Let's see….oh dear…"  
"What? What is it Clank?"  
"It appears to be a downsided version of the Biobliterator, designed for a local conversion."  
"Local conversion? What does that mean?"

"It should be obvious what it means, MORONS!" Dr. Nefarious reminded everyone of his presence with his cackling. "In the obvious outcome that the Poke-Squishy gets defeated, the collar will activate, turning it into a superior Pokemon Robot! Now prepare to be destroyed by the awesome might of MECHA - wait, what sounds like a collar being deactivated?"

With one final beep, the collar's main power source was removed, nullifying the collar and averting the crisis. "Oh, are you KIIIIIIIIIIDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII - "

"Oh Lance, is this is the only way your love can reach all of me?"

The butler once again got ready to smack Nefarious. "My name is Lawrence, by the way."

"You got it. I'll also take the Gyarados back to Professor Oak so we can treat it and finish removing the collar." And with another flash, Ash and Pikachu disappeared, returned to Traverse Town.

"OK, now that that's over with, let's go stop those two."  
"Hold it." Chief pointed his gun at the three of them. "Who even are you?"

Before Sora could answer, Chief turned his head to the side, as if he was listening to something. He lowered his gun after a minute of silence. "Fine. If Cortana is willing to trust you, then I will." As he turned around, Sora quickly ran in front of him. "Who's Cortana?"

"The AI responsible for you crashing in this specific location. She thought you could help stop Halo from firing."  
"Was she that hologram we saw?"  
"Yes. I currently have her uploaded in my helmet, so only I can hear her right now."  
"That's not all you have." The group was reminded of Guilty Spark's presence. "You also have the Activation Index needed to turn on Halo's main function. And since you won't give it willingly, I shall take it by force. Spare his head, but destroy everything else."

At that cue, robotic guards came pouring in after the heroes. "So, Chief, was it?"  
"Master Chief, actually."  
"OK. So, as long was we keep you safe, all of the worlds stay alive?"  
"That's the gist of it."  
"Then let's do this."

With a mighty yell, the heroes charged forward, taking out the robot guards in a matter of minutes. Running away before reinforcements could be called, they regrouped in another room. "Let's hitch a ride and get back to the captain….You have a better idea?"  
"Yes, but first, can you three hear me?"  
"Yes, but how?"  
"I found the hailing frequencies in your codecs. This should make communication easier. Now, I found a teleportation grid that goes throughout Halo. I learned how to use it while in the control panel. However, it requires a significant amount of energy."  
"Something tells me I'm not going to like this"  
"Same-a here."  
"I think I can pull it from your suit without permanently damaging your shields. But we can only do this once."  
"Do it."  
"Wait! Don't we have-a say - "  
The group was teleported before Luigi could finish his sentence.

_

In the midst of teleporting, Cortana was providing updates on the situation. "Listen to this. The Covenant network is in chaos. They ordered all ships to leave as soon as they saw the Flood, but they were too late. The Flood overtook the ship and disabled it. The Covenant are afraid that the Flood will fix the ship and use it to leave Halo. They sent strike team to push back the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure. I found the Captain's transponder signal! He's alive, but there's interference from the ship's damaged reactor core. I'll try to get us as close as possible."

A flash later everyone appeared in one piece, but then fell when they realized that they were on the ceiling. "Oh, I see! The coordinate data has to be - " Master Chief gave a whack to his helmet. "Right, sorry."

"Are we sure we're ok with her?"  
"If it wasn't for her, we would have crashed-landed someplace worse, maybe even someplace with those Flood things."  
"I'm just saying."  
"Quiet. We don't know who's here, and I'd rather avoid fighting if I can help it."  
"Then is it a bad-a time to-a mention that crawling sound?"

As if on cue, a swarm of small creatures came crawling out of the openways, surrounding the heroes. "Are these the Flood?" Master Chief let loose a few rounds on those that jumped. "Yeah but there's something different about them. An almost deeper darkness that consumes, if that's even possible. And their appearance was not pitch black." Sora and the others came to the right conclusion that the Flood has starting to become Heartless, adding the consumption of hearts to their already voracious appetite. "So what, they're now a 'Dark Flood'?"

"That's not a bad name, Toad."  
"Who cares what they're called? If we don't stop them, they'll eat us!"  
"WAAAAAAAAAAHHH! Don't you dare!"

Luigi let loose with a ton of magic, burning, freezing, and zapping all Dark Flood near him. Sora and Toad followed up with attacking the Dark Flood head-on, as Master Chief took care of the far-off ones with his guns. It seemed one-sided at first, but the group slowly started to push the Dark Flood back. It soon became a stalemate, but an unstable one. For every one Dark Flood they destroyed, five more seemed to emerge. The only silver lining was that with all the Heartless charging at once, they started to clog up the openings they were coming out of, slowing their progress. But it seemed like it was going to be a losing battle when Cortana spoke up. "I've isolated the Captain's location! He's in a room nearby! We just need to get past these things."

"OK, I've got an idea. Hey, fire-boy, can you burn a hole that way?"  
"I'll-a try."  
"I'll help."

Sora got next to Luigi, ready to burn through the Dark Flood. Using all the magic they had left, they let loose with a massive combined fireball that finally burned a hole through the wall of Flood. "Move!" Everyone dashed through the hole before it sealed up. "Get close to me, quick!" The trio got close as Master Chief threw something before putting up a shield around them. A big explosion happened where Master Chief was throwing, causing a lot of dust and debris to fly around. When it settled, the entire roof from the previous room was caved in, with no Dark Flood in sight. "I don't know how long that will hold them, so let's move." Turning off the shield, Master Chief led the group towards the signal of the captain, taking down any Dark Flood stragglers they found. But when they found the captain, it was not a pretty sight.

A human,or what was left of it, was connected to a giant, pulsating mass. "No human life signs detected. The captain….he's one of them!" What Cortana said was an understatement, as strange tubes and such burrowed into the body. Sora and Toad stood horrified as Luigi almost threw up. "We can't let the Flood get off the ring. You know what the captain would expect, what he'd want us to do!" Master Chief stood for a few seconds before turning to the trio. "Head to the transport ship that way. I'll catch up. You do not want to see what has to be done."

Sora and the others headed of towards where Master Chief was pointing, not liking the mood. A minute after they started walking, they heard a small squelch in the distance. "That's it. I've got the codes." There was a small hint of sadness in Cortana's voice, as the trio finally understood what Master Chief did. Returning with a heavy look in his posture, he led the group towards their way out.

_

Heading to the transport ship was fairly easy. During the way, they saw the Dark Flood Heartless fighting strange alien creatures, which Master Chief pointed out were the Covenant. Making their way through them was easy, as the chaos from fighting each other put less attention on the four of them. They only had to parry a few attacks as they ran straight through. Reaching the small shuttle, they took off without a hitch and flew like the wind. They approached the ship in a few minutes time. The trio were held in awe over the size of the ship, before some shaking took their attention.

"This thing's falling apart!"  
"It'll hold."  
"We're going to make it!"  
"Yes we will."  
"Pull up, pull up, pull up!"  
"I love you, you know-a that, Toad?"  
"Why did you have to make my last moments all mushy and disgusting?"  
"Wait, Chief, what are you - WOOOOAAAAHHHH!"

The three of them were suddenly flying out of the ship, landing on the ledge in front of them face-first. There was an explosion that happened afterward as the ship crashed into the wall. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Cortana's question went unanswered as Master Chief climbed up the edge.

"This way." The way to the main control room was easy. There little to no opposition as they made their way. Approaching an input slot, Master Chief removed Cortana from his helmet and into the slot, up loading her into the ship's mainframe. "I leave home for a few days and look what happens. This won't take long. There. That should bring us enough time to secure a lifeboat and get some distance before the detonation."

"Detonation?"  
"The only way we can stop Halo is to destroy it. And the best way is to blow it up."  
"But our ship is still here!"  
"You can make it if you run fast, right?"  
"That's not the point!"  
"Look, we'll think of something, but right now, Halo is going to blow up."  
"I'm afraid that's out of the question, really."  
"Uh, oh."  
"Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge. Weren't you worried that it would be captured, or destroyed?"  
"He's in my data arrays, a local tap."  
"Oh, how I will enjoy this! To think you would destroy this installation. I am shocked. Almost too shocked for words."  
"He stopped the self destruct sequence."  
"Why do you continue to fight us, Reclaimer? You cannot win. Give us the Construct and I will endeavor to make your death relatively painless and - "  
"At least I still have control over the com channels."  
"Where is he?"  
"I'm detecting taps throughout the ship. Sentinels, most likely. As for the monitor…...he's in engineering. Must be trying to take the core offline. Even if I could get the countdown restarted, I don't know what to do."  
"How much firepower would you need to crack one of the engine shields?"  
"Not much, a well-placed grenade perhaps, but why - ?"  
Master Chief started to toss one of said grenades in his hands.  
"OK, I'm coming with you."  
"And we are too. Mostly to make sure we have enough time to get back to our ship."  
Master Chief reached to plug Cortana back into his helmet, Toad pointed out the window.  
"More robots!"  
"And that's not all, squishies!"

Dr. Nefarious appeared once again with Lawrence, except this time, they were on two giant battle mechs. "How do you like these? They came from the same place as Togera!" The trio was in shock at the mention of the monster that almost squished them alongside Kratos. "Except, of course, these are better because they are glorious robots! Meet Robo-47 and Ultra V!" The one indicated to be Ultra V was the shiny high-tech looking mech that Nefarious was on, and Robo-47 looked like an old military robot controlled by Lawrence. "Ah yes. Guess who got to choose their battle robot first?"

"Quiet, Lawrence! Now, with the ultimate power of super robots, we will finally DESTROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY - "

"We have no other choice but this heart transplant, in order for your third heart to love!"  
"At least I'll always have this."  
WHACK!

"YYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU!" Nefarious brought out a remote and pushed a few buttons. Ultra V started to pull out a sword, then started to attack the group of heroes. "Scatter!" The sword went straight down to the ground, causing the group to be split in two. Sora went one way, and the others went the other way.

"Lawrence! You get the others. The Keyblade Squishy is mine." Nefarious went after Sora with full force, Ultra-V's sword not letting up. Luckily, its huge size and huge swings made it easy to read and dodge, but Sora knew that he needed help if he was going to beat the robot duo. Master Chief and the others were too far away and dealing with their own problem, so it wasn't coming from them. Quickly remembering how he got much-needed help the last time, he quickly called Dr. Light.

"Any chance you can send someone who can battle a giant robot?"  
"Maybe, but the best one I can think of is still in recovery. Who else can…..yes! If you can hold off for a minute, I can send someone over!"

Dr. Light quickly hung up, leaving Sora alone to deal with Nefarious., and all he could do was dodge his attacks, barely able to make any dents when he counterattacked. It seemed like his chances were low when a bight flash appeared, revealing a figure in futuristic armor. Their arm was sporting a big blaster, with a fully charged shot.

BOOM!

The blast was able to do some damage to Ultra-V's arm as well as knock it off balance, allowing Sora to regain his bearings. "Woah, thanks."

"No need for thanks. You were able to free me after I was imprisoned. Now I have the chance to repay the debt."  
"That voice, Samus, it that you?"  
"It doesn't matter! I'll destroy all of you squishies!"

Nefarious was able to still engage one last sword swing at the two of them, albeit a little more slow than the rest. "Is your balancing skill good?" Before Sora could answer, Samus curled up into ball, rolling toward the sword. Catching her intent, Sora jumped on top, running as she rolled. As they dodged the sword and it struck the ground, they used the shockwave to jump onto the sword and roll up to higher ground. Samus stood back up and shot more blasts at Nefarious, with Sora firing fireballs. Nefarious had to duck behind Ultra-V's head to avoid the barrage. "Don't think you've won, especially you, you armored squishy!" Plugging a strange data drive into Ultra-V, its other arm sprang to life and produced an axe in a style that looked familiar to Sora. "Isn't that…?"

"Sora! Look out!" Samus pushed Sora out of the way as the axe came down, seemingly striking her. "Samus! No!" The axe rose to reveal crushed armor. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! Even with you playing pretend-robot with your armor, you still couldn't hide your squishy nature!" The dust suddenly indicated something going up as Nefarious spoke. Looking up, he was shocked to see a woman in a figure-hugging suit coming at him with an energy whip. "Just so you know, those 'squishy' remarks are just plain offensive!"

"You're a woman?!" That was all Nefarious had to say before Samus knocked him to the side of the robot's head, grabbing the data drive and throwing it to Sora. "You seem to know what it is, so you take it!" Sora nodded, knowing full well what it was. Nefarious, knowing he was at a disadvantage, called Lawrence. "LAWRENCE! I need an escape, NOW!"

"Coming, sir, but in an unexpected way." Before an explanation was demanded, Nefarious heard an incoming rocket, turning to see Lawrence riding on one of Robo-47's missiles, before picking him up and continuing to blast off.

"Why are you picking me up on an explosive device?!"  
"The robot I had had its legs broken by my opponents. They were simply too fast for an outdated model."  
"WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

"Sora, do you read me?!"  
"Wha - Oh, Cortana!"  
"You have to move now! We were able to evade our attacker and blow up the ship. Halo will be destroyed, and if we don't move, we go with it."  
"That's my cue."

Samus picked up her broken armor. "I'll head back the way I came. But don't worry about your ship, someone's taking care of it."  
"Who?"  
"Us, that's who!"

Sora turned around to see the Gummi Ship hovering behind him, with Ratchet and Clank piloting it. "How- ?"

"Dr. Light is not the only one with teleportation technology. And we have sensors to tell us of any damage."  
"Thankfully, we were able to fix said damages in time, it seems."  
"Great, thanks! Now come on, we need to get the others!"

_

Luigi, Toad, and Master Chief were running as fast as they could go. After rendering Robo-47 immobile, they were able to blow the reactor and start the destruction of Halo. Luckily, Cortana was able to find a small craft that they could escape on. They were running towards when Luigi voiced his concerns.

"What about-a Sora? We still need to-a get him!"  
"How can we help him if we are too busy helping ourselves!"  
"Don't worry, I got you covered!"  
"Sora?"  
"Yeah, I'm calling you from the Codec. Ratchet and Clank fixed the Gummi Ship, and I'm heading towards you guys now, but if you can meet me halfway, that'll help!"  
"How can we do that and outrun the destruction chasing us?!"  
"Go in that." Master Chief pointed towards a jeep. "Go in the Warthog to Sora."  
"A Warthog?"  
"Yeah, that thing."  
"Are you sure that's a Warthog?"  
"What?"  
"It looks more-a like-a Puma."  
"Whatever, just get in the vehicle."

Toad and Luigi jumped in and punched it, now easily outpacing the collapsing landscape. After a minute they were able to see Sora approaching them. "Keep going! I'll open the cockpit!" Sora turned the Gummi to its side, as Toad turned the Warthog as close as he could. "NOW!" With a mighty jump, he and Luigi were able to barely make the inside of the cockpit. Closing it, Sora pulled full throttle, leaving the ground behind before it disappeared.

They didn't stop going until they were far enough to see Halo's destruction. A massive explosion shattered the ring, making parts fly everywhere. As the trio watched in silence, the Gummi's radio startled them. "Guys? Do you read me? Come on!"

"Yeah, yeah, we got ya."  
"Good. We were worried no one else got out."  
"What…..?"  
"We did what we had to do. For our world. For all the worlds."  
"I don't Cortana. I don't know if it's over, either."  
"If it isn't, we'll be there to help."  
"What? You will, kid?"  
"Yes. But promise me, that you won't let your heart fall to darkness. That'll you keep fighting."  
"Hm. It's a deal, kid. You keep fighting too."  
"I will."

As the two ships went their separate ways, a missile was seen drifting in the void, having lost its propulsion fuel, with Lawrence sitting on it with Dr. Nefarious, who was a little, "stuck".

"Oh, Lance! Now with this third Mega-Heart, I can now love you with everything and then some!"

"I think I will keep him like this for a bit."

(chapter end)


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 8  
New 'n Tasty

"Come to think of it," Toad said to himself while passing through space, "we never found a keyhole, did we?"

"We didn't?" Luigi asked.  
"Nope!" Sora replied, seeming oddly cheerful about it. "That's why I've been taking a detour."  
"Detour!?" They both exclaimed.

"Yeah, something felt a little wrong about not finding a Keyhole before Halo exploded. If it wasn't in there, chances are that Nefarious guy never found it. So I thought I would kill a few minutes just to make sure." Just as Sora mentioned it, he felt something being picked up by the Gummi Ship, like there was an obstacle coming their way, despite there appearing to be nothing there.

However, the obstacle made itself visible in just a few seconds. Carefully opening the hatch with a helmet on, Sora stepped out of the Gummi Ship and stood on top of it, pointing his Keyblade at the translucent wall that appeared. In the center of the wall, was a keyhole, just as Sora expected. "Sora, be careful!" Luigi stammered, as Sora fired a beam at the keyhole, point-on, not missing even by an inch.

The clicking noise was heard, making Sora overjoyed as he jumped back into the Gummi Ship. "Alright, great thinking Sora! Bet that crazy doctor feels like a complete moron for not finding it first." Toad said with a laugh, as the Gummi Ship began to turn around, back to Traverse Town.

_

When they returned to Traverse Town for a short while, Sora found himself meddling with the power source of the collar that they had taken off of Gyarados. He wasn't really surprised to see that a light blue gem was stuck in there this whole time. Kind of an odd thing for Dr. Nefarious to have used as a power source, so Sora was certain that there had to be a reason.

Well, a visit to Rosalina would surely answer the question lingering in his mind!

"So," Sora explained to her, "we found this being used as a power source, to keep a Pokémon under control. Could you free whatever is inside of it?" He asked politely, getting a gentle nod as a response.

"How cruel for someone to trap an unconscious person and use them as a source of power." Rosalina spoke, gently waving her wand around the jewel. "Much more, to use to in order to control another being. I am grateful that you managed to release them both from their captors, Sora. All without damaging either one of them." Per usual, a bright light flashed, blinding those nearby. This time, Rosalina gasped for a change, when she noticed something about who was released.

"This is…!" She hesitated, and left the room to find Dr. Light. Sora was surprised to see her actually startled for once, like she knew something. It was almost out of character, given her usually calm demeanor. What could have been the reason for it?

The answer stood in front of Sora, but it wasn't really clear to him just yet. A small boy, much shorter than Sora, but taller than Toad, wearing blue armor. His skin appeared to be real and his eyes were rather wide. Putting on his helmet, concealing his dark hair, he looked up at Sora, confused.

"Where am I?" The boy asked. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sora!" The boy didn't appear to be hostile at all, which was enough for Sora to offer his hand, in hopes of shaking it. "What about you? What's your name?"

"Rock."

Sora then paused for a second, remembering something. Blue armor… young boy… going by the name of Rock?

"Wait," Sora said, "Rock? Are you Dr. Light's—"

"Rock!"  
"Dr. Light!?" Mega Man exclaimed.

"Sora! You found him!" Dr. Light was ecstatic, absolutely joyful to see that Rock had been returned. It was starting to make a little more sense to Sora now, recalling that Rock was a robot, and Dr. Nefarious seemed to have a thing for controlling them.

If not for him being in a jewel, well… the results probably would have been even more disastrous.

"I'll tell Rock everything that's been going on in a moment, but Sora, I can't thank you enough for bringing him back to me!" Taking a second to calm down, Dr. Light cleared his throat. "Anyway, from here on out, Mega Man, you will be aiding Sora should he call you for help. You understand of course, yes?"

"You've got it, Dr. Light! It's the least I can do since he brought me back to you." Rock, better known now as Mega Man, then soon realized something that was off. "Where's Roll?" He wondered.

"We haven't found her yet," Sora admitted, "when we do though, we'll get back to you both!"

Before Sora could leave though, he was stopped by Rosalina, who made her presence known once again. "Sora, for finding Rock, I believe that you should be rewarded. I know you were only doing what was right, but I feel it is only fair that I grant your whole party an increase of power. How does that sound?"

Sora, Luigi, and Toad all gave a look of approval as Rosalina. Waving her wand over the group, the entire party felt their strength grow. "There. Now both Sora and Luigi can use magic that is stronger than before. All of your elemental spells will do more damage, at the cost of more magic power, so do choose wisely. The same applies to you, Toad. I have granted you more potent healing."

Toad cheered in approval, while Luigi gave a thumbs up. "Thanks Rosalina," Sora said, "I mean it. It's going to come in handy."

"Oh right. Speaking if handy…" Sora rummaged in his pocket as he headed towards Dr. Light. "Dr. Nefarious was also using this to power up one of his robots. I think it's another one of Steve's weapons." Dr. Light took the data drive and analyzed it. "It most certainly is! Good job Sora! I've already sent it to Steve. You go make sure he gets it." Sora was already in the transporter before Dr. Light finished talking.

Vvvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrr!

_

Sora started to look around for Steve, and was most surprised to see that most of the landscape had been ravaged. Entire tunnels and ruts were everywhere he looked, showing the work of someone like a madman. Fearing the worst, Sora ran as hard as he could to find his friend. His fear was replaced with relief and a different kind of shock when he heard a shout.

"Sora, up here!" Sora was taken entirely of guard by Steve standing on top of a fortress that wasn't there before."Thanks for finding my pickaxe! I wouldn't be able to build this without it!" Sora quickly put two and two together. "You mean all those holes…..?"

"Yep, all me! Where do you think I got the material for this? Anyway, get up here before - LOOK OUT!" Sora jumped and climbed up the wall in time before a flaming skull hit where he was standing. Turning around, He nearly screamed a what appeared to be three skulls on one spine, floating in the distance. "Allow me to introduce the Wither. One of the worst ones out there. It's going to take everything we've got to take it down. From what I've seen, your fireballs and such can land more damage than my arrows, so you lead the attack while I cover you."

"Got it." Sora took position and aimed, letting loose with a fiery barrage at the Wither. The Wither retaliated with a flurry of skulls. Sora got ready to evade, only to see the skulls get knocked down from the air. He looked to see Steve holding his bow with a smile on his face. His smile joining his, Sora continued the assault, landing hit after hit on the Wither. Thanks to their teamwork, the Wither was taken down after a few minutes. "That was quick. Was that the last of them?"

"No. There is still one more. The most dangerous one of them all. And there's still one more weapon I'm missing, which I will need to take him down." Steve slowly turned to Sora. "I have one request. That you bring it to me by hand. Usually, they appear on the ground and I pick them up, but we can't risk this final enemy getting it."

Sora nodded as the way back home opened above him. He never saw his friend look so grim, so he made a promise to himself to not let the weapon out of his sight when he got it.

_

Stepping out, Sora was greeted by the sight of Toad, with an annoyed look on his face. "Hey, you won't believe where we gotta go now."  
"Back to Kratos and the others?"  
"OK, how did you know?"  
"That seems to be the pattern lately. I wonder why?"  
"I don't know. All I know is that Luigi ran off with the keys when he heard, and I can't find him."  
"OK, let's go find him."

_

Once again approaching the arena, the first thing that everyone noticed was the silence. There wasn't any sign of any of the fighters, not even any spectators. Things looked like they went for the worst when a familiar voice made them all jump.

"Sora! Toad! Luigi!" Kratos was seen Walking slowly towards them, clutching his side. "Shao Khan, he…...he took us off guard in a cowardly attack. I was the only one to escape. The fate of the others, I know not." He stumbled forward, nearly hitting the ground when Sora caught him. "Don't worry. We'll save them. We'll see them again soon."

"Sooner than you think." Before Sora could question the sudden change in Kratos's mood, he landed a punch at Sora's midsection, sending Sora flying. Luckily, he rolled with the impact when he landed, but it didn't do anything to change his shock. "Kratos…...why?" As Sora struggled to regain his breath, he was greeted with a shocking sight. "Kratos" began to change. His bread turned white and wispy. His clothes turned into a robe. And most creepily, his eyes turned pure white. "The look on your face was very amusing. But I'd rather you know the true face of the man who will destroy you."

"Shang Tsung!" Toad ran to Sora. "I'll help him up. Luigi, go get him!"  
"WHAT?! Me?! But…..but…...ok, here-I go!"

Luigi charged forward, readying a magic attack when Shang Tsung changed shape again, assuming a form that took Luigi off guard. "Wha - Daisy? What are you - ?" "Daisy" quickly responded with a kick to the gut, knocking Luigi to the other side of the arena. "Luigi!"

"Toad, you go to him. This guy's mine." Sora charged again. Tsung then assumed the form of Liu Kang. "Sora, wai - " A solid hit quickly silenced him. "As long as I know it's truly you, your disguises will have no affect!"

"Oh, really? Then how about this?" The next form Tsung assumed made Sora freeze in his tracks. Standing before him was Kairi, the friend he's been looking for this whole time. Sora could barely think, wondering how he knew about her. "But…...how….?" His thoughts were interrupted as "Kairi's" face became tainted with an evil grin as she landed a very powerful blow to Sora, knocking him fully on his back. Cackling as he turned back, Tsung returned to his real form, and prepared to deliver the final blow…..

….only for a fireball to go off in his face. Falling back, he was surprised to see Sora getting up, and even more surprised to see his face in complete rage. "How…..do you know…..that person?" Before Tsung could give a response, Sora just started wailing a bunch of hits on him, dealing intense damage to the evil sorcerer. At his limit, Tsung feel to his knees. "Wait, wait, I'll tell you…!" His pleas fell on deaf ears as Sora swung the Keyblade for the final blow. A loud clang was heard as the Keyblade was suddenly blocked by a familiar-looking blade. "What are you doing, Kratos?"

Kratos, stopping Sora from ending Tsung, pushed him back. "Stopping you from making a grave mistake."  
"But he took the form of my friend! He must know where she is!"  
"But you would have destroyed him before he could talk."  
"Who cares? He went too far!"  
Sora charged again, only to get knocked back by Kratos again, who proceeded to pin him to the ground. "Just has you nearly have."  
"Let me go!"  
"NO! I will not allow you to make the same mistakes I have!"

Sora calmed down a bit, mostly in shock at Kratos's outburst. "I have let my rage get the better of me too many times. And too many people paid the price because of it. I will not allow such tragedy to happen again. You showed me a better way with your heart, and I will remind you of it."

When Kratos was finished, Sora realized what he was about to do. Seeing that it was okay now, Kratos let go of Sora and helped him up. "I…..I'm sorry."

"I am too, for believing that this fool could finish you off!" The two warriors turned to see Shao Khan holding Tsung by the neck of his robe. "I should have known that he would fail me again. However, he did bring forth an interesting incentive."

"Incentive?"

"Yes. For you see, I was the one who told him about your friend, so I have the knowledge you seek. If you dare, challenge me and defeat me, and I will tell you what I know. But for know, I must punish this fool." As Shao Khan walked, Kratos expected Sora to charge again, but he stayed put. "I need to clear my head before I can face him. But I'll be back and I will defeat him!"

"Back?! Again?! Can't we be done already?!" Toad worked on quieting Luigi as Sora said goodbye to Kratos, promising to return with a clear head and heart.

_

Once they were done with just about everything else, Sora and his friends boarded the Gummi Ship, and took flight to their next destination. A rather gloomy looking world, full of smoke and other sorts of dark clouds. Once they got out of the Gummi Ship, it didn't get any better.

Sora gasped, covering his nose and mouth, the other two soon did the same. "What the heck is that stench!?" Toad complained. "It's like, meat or something!" The question was easily answered when Sora took a quick glance at the bright sign that was lit-up, not far from where they landed.

"Rupture Farms?" Sora wondered, reading the caption underneath. "Oddworld's biggest meat processing plant. I guess we're in a place called Oddworld then." There didn't seem to be any signs of Heartless so far, which was a relief, but just as things seemed only mildly discomforting, Luigi trembled.

"D-does anyone else hear that?"  
"Hear what?" Toad asked.  
"It sounds-a like," Luigi stammered, "someone's calling for help in there!"

He pointed at one of the towers surrounding Rupture Farms, and sure enough, although faintly, they could all hear someone screaming and shouting, pleading for someone to help them. It was absolutely chilling, almost as bad as when Sora visited the Shadow Temple. Of course, the fear of whatever was going on wasn't going to stop Sora. "Come on! Whoever is up there, they have to be rescued!"

So, the ascent began, with unusual creatures guarding the place, appearing to be rather dangerous if one were to get close. These creatures weren't too tall, had finger-like mandibles coming out of their faces, and had mechanical legs. Masks covered their faces, and Sora was tempted to take caution, until he watched the incompetence of the creatures.

"Probably just knocking them out would do the trick," Sora the muttered, taking note of some Pokéballs, hidden on top of a platform. A quick glance at the three there, Sora ended up tossing the one containing a white Pokémon, which had chunk of ice on top of its head, and a red ribbon across its body.

When the Pokémon was sent out, a freezing breath of icy wind was blown in the direction of the Popper Sligs. They were all frozen in place, and had no chance of breaking out any time soon! Taking advantage of it, Sora and his friends made a run for it, examining the Pokémon that was just used.

"Froslass," Sora muttered, looking at the other two in his hands. "Gengar and Cubone."

"Uh, not to alarm you or anything, Sora," Toad interrupted, "look!" On a conveyor belt, were several Heartless. Wight Knights, Soldiers, Mushrooms, all chained up and being moved along the belt. They were completely harmless in this state, but it still worried Sora, seeing Heartless in a place like this, bound up. What could be the reason for it?

The sight was puzzling, but Sora had to put that aside for now. The bigger concern was rescuing whoever was calling out. Sora and his party made haste, ascending to the top of the tower. The door was shut tight, but using all of his strength, Toad managed to pull it apart, forcing it to open.

Inside was a different creature, chained up to the ceiling, hanging by his arms. His pleas stopped at the sight of Sora and his friends, voice going quiet, confused by the sight of his rescuers. "Who are you?" The creature stammered, having a pale, bluish body with yellow eyes, red irises too.

Keeping his voice low, so no one else would catch them, Sora answered. "I'm Sora. This is Toad, and Luigi. We heard someone calling for help, so we came to investigate. Do you mind telling us what's going on here? Why are you being imprisoned?"

"My name is Abe, I was employee of the year, though I was really a slave like all the others." The creature introduced himself, as Sora broke him free from the chains. "I crossed my boss, Molluck, the Glukkon. I was trying to free myself, and others of my kind, Mudokons. It all started when I was working late one night, and the Glukkons were scared, because their profits were grim. Molluck though, he had a plan. He struck a deal with someone."

Fumbling around, Abe got up, relieved to be free. "A round businessman came in, offering a new livestock of these black creatures, in exchange for some of the Mudokons. The plan revealed though, it blew my mind, so many black creatures and machines, they were going to be made out of us!" The group of friends were all shocked and disgusted to hear this reveal, that Heartless were being used to make products, considering what some of them once were.

"I had no choice but to escape, and free whoever was captured! But before I knew it, so many of us were put into machines, and I finally got caught." Abe finished explaining, giving a hopeless look. "I don't know what I'm going to do now, even if I'm free, it's not like I can fight Molluck and his business partner by myself."

The trio immediately knew what to do, given these circumstances. "Well, we'll help you then!" Sora declared.

"Huh?"

"You just said it yourself," Toad chimed in, "you can't face this Molluck guy by yourself, right? We all work as a team here! Now c'mon, otherwise those guards might come get all of us." Getting a head start, Toad ran off cheerfully. Abe was absolutely confused that these three strangers, while their clothes resembled those within Oddworld, their race was one that appeared to have not been discovered.

Did they want something from Abe? It just seemed rather weird that they're so willing to help, answering to his pleas with no hesitation. Before exiting though, Sora took notice of three Pokéballs, lying on the floor in the prison chamber.

Chandelure, Crobat, Mimikyu…

The last one had a resemblance to Pikachu in a way, having a papery costume that was scribbled on. Sora wasn't going to ask questions about that though, he had to stop this production of Heartless!

Of course, the moment Sora stepped foot out of the prison, and made his presence more notable, the Heartless became a little restless in their binds.

—

"Boss!" A Slig called out to his superior. "The Heartless supply are suddenly running rampant and out of control!"

"Out of control?" Molluck turned to the Popper Slig, raising a brow. "What are you talking about?"

"They're no longer contained on the conveyor belts, we can't stop them!" Infuriated, Molluck went over to a large screen, hoping to get into contact with the man responsible for hooking him up with Heartless. Some static flickered, and a large man with a mustache could be seen.

"You better have a good reason for calling me up at this time—"

"Doctor! Those creatures you arranged for us are now running around! What is the explanation for this? You said that they would be under control!" There was a momentary pause, indicating that even the man on the other end was surprised to hear this. He wasn't even upset about it either, if anything, it amused him.

"The most likely cause is that something or someone's presence has alerted them. No worries, I'll stop by in a moment to scout the situation. Until then, hopefully you don't become lost in the darkness before I get there!" With a laugh, the doctor shut off his call, angering Molluck even further.

Losing hope, so absorbed in his selfishness, turning against anything or anyone…

Molluck soon found himself clutching onto his chest, shocking the Popper Slig next to him. His body vanished. A heart came out of his body, morphing with the darkness, which began shaping into a new being. It sprouted wings, had a gaping mouth, horns on its head, and an emblem on its chest. The Popper Slig was mortified, he refused to suffer the same fate, and began making a quick escape.

Before long, the other Glukkons would probably go through the same thing Molluck just had, no doubt.

—

Watching the Popper Slig run away rather than face Abe left him, well, very confused. In fact, it seemed like a whole slew of them were exiting. It made things easier, sure, but it was very concerning, as if something worse was in the area. "So Abe, how exactly did you get as far as you did?" Sora asked, also pondering what the Sligs were up to.

"During my travels in rescuing others of my kind, I learned that I was destined to become the Mudokon savior, I had to complete trials in order to have a great power bestowed upon me." Revealing his hands, Abe's showed Sora some unusual scars, which were over each hand. "With these, I gained the power to transform into the Shrykull. I also have an ability to possess some of those Sligs and control them."

"What's a Shrykull?" Luigi asked.

"A Mudokon demigod, capable of dispatching hostile forces." Abe explained, surprising the trio. "Um, I rarely use it. It requires me to charge power by rescuing fellow Mudokons. With the other Mudokons taken away by Molluck's business partner, there is no way for me to use it right now. Escaping my prison was also impossible for that reason." Chuckling in embarrassment, the whole group was unaware that someone was listening to the conversation from afar.

Once the group continued moving to find Molluck, the two spies turned to each other, curious by what they just overheard. "Cubot, did you hear that just now?" A red, spherical robot spoke quietly.

"Uh, yeah, of course I did!" The yellow, cubical one shouted loudly, making the other try to cover his mouth. "Oops, sorry! Anyway, uh, could you repeat it to me anyway?"

Sighing at his accomplice's lack of ability to listen, the sphere robot repeated himself. "That Mudokon over there that we didn't recover, he's a special case with unique powers. If we group him with the other Mudokons that Dr. Eggman turned into robots, then he would be the most super-powered badnik that Eggman could ask for!"

"Oh, right! That's what I was thinking!" The cube robot lied.

"We should inform Dr. Eggman, posthaste—"

The two of them were interrupted by several Gargoyle Heartless flying down, startling them. Hoping that they wouldn't be noticed, the pair of robots quickly fled the scene, while the Heartless made their way to Sora.

The Gargoyle Heartless lunged at the group, Sora immediately reacted by jumping up and swinging his Keyblade at them, disposing of the Gargoyles with little effort. Abe nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the Gargoyle Heartless, followed a new kind, which resembled a ghost, but had one of its eyes hanging out from a chain. A light was coming out of the one working eye, moving like a searchlight.

Making sure not to be spotted, Abe snuck up on the Search Ghost Heartless, and proceeded to possess it. The Search Ghost winced violently before becoming submissive. Under Abe's control, it began attacking the other Gargoyle Heartless, draining their stamina to make thing

Each time the Gargoyles attempting to strike the Search Ghost, it warped out of harm's way and struck back. Luigi cast ice magic onto the Gargoyles as well, and Toad bashed them with his shields. After a while, Abe finally let go of his control over the Search Ghost, destroying it in the process.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you were able to possess other creatures!" Luigi exclaimed.

"I didn't think it would work, I've only used it on Sligs." Abe couldn't help but feel that the searching behavior was all too similar to those of Sligs, but didn't want to jump to any conclusions. "Anyway, it doesn't look like Molluck is in Rupture Farms any longer. The place appears to be almost deserted of protection."

"It must have to do with the Heartless," Sora assumed. "I'm guessing they broke out of the containment they were in."

"But why break out now? As opposed to earlier?" Abe wondered. "I guess it's not so bad though, maybe they're enacting their revenge on Molluck." Sora immediately got the feeling that the Heartless were most likely targeting him, but couldn't admit that out loud. It was best to go along with the revenge idea with Abe for now.

—

A maniacal laugh came from the round, tall man, the two robots standing before him. "Now this is quite a treat to hear! You're telling me one of those smelly creatures has the power to turn into a demigod of some kind? And it requires others of his kind to be present? That's perfect for our plan!"

The two robots looked at each other. "Say, what was the plan anyway?" The cube-shaped one asked.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask that myself." The orb-shaped one concurred.

"Isn't it obvious!?" The round man shouted, startling his minions. "We're going to take over Oddworld, and turn it into part of my ever-growing empire! First we arrange that deal of the Heartless with those stupid Glukkons, then we get their old workers to turn into robots, third step was all just a matter of waiting for that boy my friend complains about to show up!"

The robots blinked in unison. "You mean you intended for the boy to break the one creature out of prison?"

"I knew it would happen." The man further. "Unlike the others, I planned for his arrival. And once they're all out of the way, I can turn my attention back to that pesky hedgehog. He won't be able to stop me when I get a demigod on my side! Now then, Orbot, Cubot, go fetch that runaway worker!"

"You got it, Dr. Eggman!" The cubical one, known as Cubot yelled, immediately taking leave with his partner.

—

The brawl against the Heartless seemed never-ending, but Sora and his friends got out of Rupture Farms unscathed. Even Abe, unfamiliar with this form of combat, was putting the few abilities he had to use for the team. Sora couldn't help but be a little unsettled that Abe was pretty much using the Heartless' own kind against them, since up until this point, the Heartless had been clashing against Sora. Though, an easy way to dispense of that uneasy feeling was to remember that it was really just Abe, and not the Heartless.

Or maybe Sora was just uneasy because of Rupture Farms. Toad and Luigi may have felt the same way, no doubt. "Look! Over there!" Luigi directed everyone's attention to a large ship that was parked in the distance. Sora glanced at Abe, then lightly tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"I don't mean to alarm you Abe, but does that ship belong to Molluck's business partner?"

"Yes!" Abe confirmed. "I've seen it fly around here a few times, taking away Mudokons. That must be where they're all being kept!" Understanding, they all tailed after the ship, which was floating on the ocean's surface.

They carefully stepped onto the wooden, rocky docks before jumping onto the ship. It didn't appear to be guarded, almost as if maybe they anticipated Sora's arrival. Tucked away on the edge of the ship, Sora could see a set of Pokéballs, containing Drowzee, Muk, and Zoroark. "Where do we go from here?" Toad wondered, accidentally stepping on a button.

A noise was heard, as a monorail train arrived on the spot, as if it had just been summoned. The train's door opened up, waiting for someone to enter. Everyone in the group was hesitant except for Toad, who jumped right inside. "Sweet! This is pretty nifty, c'mon guys, let's go save those captured Muddykins!"

"It's Mudokons," Abe corrected.

They all stepped inside, and the train began moving again, diving straight into the ship's inner works.

—

The monorail train finally stopped in what appeared to be an aquarium. When Luigi stepped out, he was first to notice the cautionary sign that was lighting up. "Warning, you are now entering the Hot Shelter." He read loud, stammering.

"I guess we'll start the search for the remaining Mudokons here." Abe said, taking note of two Search Ghosts guarding what appeared to be a Mudokon-sized robot. Pointing at it, Sora immediately knew what he had to do. Abe took control of one of the Heartless, and then used it, combined with everyone else's strength to take out the other.

Once both Heartless were disposed of, Sora broke the robot's fragile exterior with a whack of his Keyblade, freeing the Mudokon inside, who ran away, grateful to be rescued. They quickly moved right along and realized that there was quite the steep drop below them. Down there was a Search Ghost, and Abe immediately knew what he had to do.

"I'll look on ahead and take care of whatever's there." Possessing the Search Ghost, Abe examined the surroundings below. Gargoyles appeared to be protecting a few other robots, which was enough to make Abe try to fight them with the Search Ghost. It started out well, but unfortunately, Abe wasn't able to handle them all on his own.

Backing away, Abe held his head. "Sorry Sora, I can only do so much against numbers."

"That's what working as a team is for, all for one, right guys?" Sora and his friends jumped in, disposing the Gargoyles before breaking open the robots, releasing more Mudokons. "That's five so far!"

As they all kept moving, Orbot and Cubot watched the group of them from a monitor, showing mild concern for what was taking place. "Aw shucks, they got here sooner than we thought!" Cubot complained. "They're busting up some of Eggman's latest creations too! What are we gonna do about it?"

"It should be fine, it's only a small number that had been freed so far. We can't allow them to continue this any longer though." Orbot turned his attention to a giant, green robot that has a cylinder shape to it. "ZERO, Dr. Eggman wishes for the capture of that lone Mudokon there, surely you can follow through with that, right?"

The green robot, ZERO, began scanning Abe on the monitor, taking a moment to process his image before exiting.

—

Dropping down from inside of the ventilation system in the Hot Shelter, Sora and company found themselves inside of a bathroom of all places, occupied by cleaning robots rather than Heartless. It was a decent change of pace, as Sora was able to break the Mudokons free with no sweat at all, leaving them confused as to where they were.

"That's ten!" Sora announced. "Abe, did you keep count on how many Mudokons were taken away?"

"I'm not so sure," Abe answered, "some of them may have been morphed into those black creatures, with no chance of changing back, so we have to save as many as we can before it's too late!" They left the bathrooms, preparing to go on, into what looked like an industrial factory. It was similar to Rupture Farms, but much cleaner in comparison.

Five robots were lined up past a series of cylinders moving around, making it almost impossible to pass. Once again, Abe took control of a Heartless, although it was a Gargoyle one this time, thus a bit more fragile. Seeing a switch close to the cylinders, Abe made the Gargoyle press it, so that the cylinders would stop moving, and everyone could cross it safely. With that obstacle out of the way, the Heartless were dispensed.

Once that was cleared, Sora again, ended up finding three Pokéballs. These ones appeared to contain Seviper, Salazzle, and Darkrai. Upon checking the Pokédex further, Sora let out a sigh of relief. "This is all that's in Oddworld, huh? That's good, I don't have to worry about—" Suddenly afraid that Abe might hear him, Sora cut his thoughts short. He shouldn't have been thinking out loud in the first place.

Further into the Hot Shelter, everyone found a new problem in their way. A giant, green robot was patrolling the area, and after a few seconds, Abe looked at them. "I'm sorry, I can't help you with that one. I can't control something made of metal. If we don't make it past that guy, we're probably toast!"

"Maybe," Sora started, "we don't have to control him in order to sneak past."

"What do you mean?" Luigi wondered.

"Let's devise a plan here," Sora explained. "That robot is used to Heartless, but might get agitated if something goes wrong maybe. Abe, you can take control of a Heartless, distract that guy to send him on a rampage, so the Heartless may attack him too. Then after you remove your control over it, we can all sneak past, break open those robots in the corner, then make our escape before it notices!"

"Hey, are you all using my power as a crutch?" Abe asked.

"No, we're in this together!" Toad snapped back. "But is very useful, we all got our own talents here, pal!" Abe couldn't help but chuckle in response. Even though it was a little odd, it felt nice to have a quality that others didn't have to make himself useful. It didn't make him feel disposable, like he was when he was working.

Abe did exactly that, taking control of one of the Search Ghosts, then prodded ZERO, who responded angrily, as if it was a hostile attack. Abe revoked his possession of the Search Ghost, which led to it fighting back against ZERO, and then more Heartless joined in, not taking kindly to their brethren suddenly brawling with a robot. Sora cracked open the robotic cases concealing the Mudokons, and told them to run right away. After that, the four of them climbed up a step-ladder to safety, hoping to evade ZERO.

Unfortunately, the green robot, while swinging at the Heartless, happened to glance up in their direction, spotting a part of Abe tagging behind the others.

—  
Four colorful inserts were on the floor, leaving the group puzzled. "Okay, it looks-a like something block-shaped goes-a here." Luigi examined the insert. "Red, blue, yellow, and purple."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious, for explaining that to the color blind." Toad joked.

"Well, there are blocks right here," Abe said, picking up the red one, before putting it down into the red insert, watching it slide in.

"What kinda throw was that? C'mon, Abe! You gotta have more HIIIIYAH!" Toad shouted.

"Hiiiyah?"

"Yep, it's one of my best qualities!" Running off at top speed to go grab the yellow block, Toad tossed it with all his might. "HIIIIYAH! Here I go!" Hitting it directly on the yellow insert spot, the block went inside with no problem. Abe couldn't help but be amazed by his strength, which was packed inside of such a small body.

"While Toad may jump short, he's got the speed and power, right?" Sora laughed. "Meanwhile, Luigi has more leg power, so he can jump up to some crazy heights. It's interesting how different those two are with their abilities. Speaking of which," Realizing that Luigi had made a great jump onto one of the metal beams above, Sora appeared confused. "What are you doing up there!?"

"I thought I saw something up here!" Luigi replied, picking up a blue block. "Yeet!"

Tossing the block towards the insert, but missing narrowly, Sora nudged it in the right spot for him, while Luigi jumped back down. "Did you just say yeet?" Toad questioned. "If so, never say it again, please. That was so forced."

"Sorry," Luigi apologized, while Sora and Abe appeared to be not in a joke or something. Holding up the last, purple block, Sora put it into the insert, opening the door, allowing them access to the chamber that was at the end of the Hot Shelter.

Several robots, stuck in a room with monitors on the wall. Just about everyone broke the Mudokons free, and they immediately scattered, thanking their saviors before exiting. Abe had a look of relief, as he began counting. "Twenty we saved back there, ten in here, that makes thirty Mudokons!" Abe cheered.

"Nice work, team! Now, we just need to find out who's behind all of this, and then—"

Sora's celebration only lasted so long, as the green robot appeared on the monitors, appearing furious as it charged at the camera. Everyone was confused, until ZERO suddenly broke through the walls, launching its fists at Abe. The Mudokon was grabbed, and then ZERO pulled its fists back before it could do anything else.

"Yeah! We got 'im!" Cubot announced, revealing himself along with Orbot. "Dr. Eggman's gonna be so happy!" Orbot meanwhile, noticed the amount of damage that had been done, and began to stammer. "C'mon Orbot, let's hurry— Oh, hey! ZERO, wait for us!" Cubot immediately tailed after the green robot, who had knocked out Abe before taking him away.

"Abe!" Sora shouted, hurrying to try to pursue the robot, but ZERO ended up being too fast for the group. Not helping was the group of Gargoyles, which swarmed in to distract Sora. Although they were taken care of swiftly, Sora found himself irritated that ZERO and the other two robots had vanished, taking Abe with them. "Darn, we lost them! We have to hurry and get Abe back, before he's turned into a machine!"

Toad and Luigi nodded in agreement. They all left the room, and began to take an elevator, which should hopefully, take them out of the Hot Shelter.

—

"Say Orbot, wanna see this cool, shiny rock I found?" Cubot asked, holding up a brown gemstone.

"We don't have time for that!" Orbot scolded, slapping it out of Cubot's hands. "I'm sorry for lashing out like this, but Dr. Eggman is not going to be happy when he sees how much damage they all did in such little time! We're never going to hear the end of it if he finds out." Confused at Orbot's concerned, Cubot shrugged it off, and the both of them, plus ZERO, retreated to Dr. Eggman's lair.

Sora meanwhile, finally reached the deck of the ship, where they were once again, attacked by Gargoyles, as well as cannons, which were pointed in their direction. Luigi busted the cannons with some thunder power, while Sora and Toad took care of the Gargoyles. The main man behind the mess of Oddworld was just in their reach, and hopefully Abe and his kind would be free at last.

Oh, and the keyhole, but that could wait maybe. Picking up the brown jewel that was left behind, Sora pocketed it, knowing exactly what it was for. The door at the very top of the ship slid open, as if whoever was behind had been anticipating Sora.

And that was exactly the case, as inside of the door, was a tall, round man with a mustache, sitting in a chair. "Greetings! Sora was it? I must thank you for sending those Heartless on a little ruckus, which led to me discovering the Mudokon savior!" The man cackled, accompanied by the three robots which had captured Abe, and one that was entirely new.

"Who are you!?" Sora demanded to know. "And what are you doing in Oddworld!?"

The man turned on a switch, music began playing all of the sudden, startling the group.

"The story begins, with who's gonna win,  
Knowing the danger lies within!  
Aboard the ARK, a genius at heart,  
Wanting to unlock the mysteries of life!  
I am the Eggman, that's what I am!  
I am the Eggman, I got the master plan!  
I am the Eggman, that's what I am!"

The music continued on, while the doctor made himself known. "I am the Eggman, with the master plan!" He sang along, announcing who he was. "I'm plotting my schemes wherever I go, they're perfect in every way! I'd love to destroy, the blue one you know, he's an obstacle who always gets in my way!

"I must play this game by my rules!" Getting up from his seat, Dr. Eggman stepped forward. "I will conquer the world with my tools!" He cackled. "All my machines are made for destruction. I will build my empire! I will succeed, and you will see, with my machines, there is no retreat!…"

After that, Eggman finally turned off the lyrics, but kept the music going. "From Dr. 'Eggman' Robotnik, genius with an IQ of three-hundred! I came to Oddworld to build my empire, so I dealt in a few trades in the process. You still think you can beat me?"

"That was actually kind of a catchy tune," Toad mumbled.  
"Just give us Abe back!" Sora shouted at Eggman.

"Give him back? Why of course I will!" Eggman sneered, turning his attention to a large robot. "Now that he is one of my many powerful badniks, I can use his demigod power against anyone who stands in my way! All I need is a little charge, and Oddworld will be at my mercy!" The robot encasing Abe's body rose, raising its arms. "Now then, A.B.E-1997! Transform!"

Only a couple of sparks emitted from the Mudokon robot's hands, before it immediately slouched back down. "What? There are at least thirty roboticized Mudokons here, aren't there!?" Furious, Eggman looked down at Orbot and Cubot. "What happened to them!?"

"Well, er, that's the thing, Dr. Eggman." Orbot explained. "That one Mudokon and the group over there, they ended up freeing just about every Mudokon that had been turned into a robot. The others in the prison are most likely not going to respond to this."

"WHAT!? Why didn't you do anything about them sooner!? Get out of my sight this instant, you useless bolt-brains!"

With that, Orbot and Cubot immediately fled, followed by ZERO. "Bah, I'll recapture them in due time. But for now, I'll have to make sure the three of you don't cause anymore issues!" Pressing another button, the whole room reshaped itself to a circular one. A large machine was dropped in, while the robotized Abe was pulled aside. Eggman jumped into the machine, then began adjusting it.

Much like Eggman himself, the machine had a pointed nose, circular eyes, and a mustache for some reason. Underneath though, where the teeth should have been, were panels similar to that of a slot machine. "Do you fancy gambling your chances, kid? Then why don't you try your luck with the Egg Dealer!" The machine began sprouting legs, which had wheels on the bottom, as the panels began moving.

All three of the panels stopped and landed on what appeared to be missiles. "Final target confirmed, commencing combat."

"Get ready for a real blast!" Eggman laughed. "It's time for missile fever!" Upon the missiles being launched up, then coming back down towards Sora and his friends, they moved out of the way, narrowly missing them. This was going to prove to be a challenge, unless they found a way to deal with a literal slot machine boss.

Rather than attacking directly though, the Egg Dealer just began moving away from the group, prompting them all to chase after it in hopes of getting a chance to attack Eggman. "What do we do? Do we just chase after him and attack the buttons under those panels!?" Toad exclaimed, going as fast as he could.

Sora jumped at the Egg Dealer once he got close enough, accompanied by Toad and Luigi, who also struck the buttons on Egg Dealer with a shield and fireballs respectively. All the slides stopped on what appeared to be a set of red spheres, most likely bombs, making the Egg Dealer malfunction. Sora became worried about another attack, until the Egg Dealer tripped over itself, dropping an explosive in the process.

"Gah! How the in the— you pests!" Dr. Eggman yelled, making the Egg Dealer get back up on its legs before rolling off again. Sora and his friends continued to pursue him, while going over what had just happened when they attacked.

"How did that just happen?" Sora questioned. "It was like the machine initiated its attack, but because it was done by our force rather than him doing it manually, it malfunctioned and backfired."

"We should probably be doing it more, even if it's-a risky," Luigi suggested, "just so he doesn't send out his weapons on us instead!" The moment he mentioned that, the slides on the Egg Dealer stopped, exactly where Eggman wanted them too.

"Oh goody! Heartless Fever!" Eggman cackled, as some Gargoyle Heartless suddenly flew into the heat of the battle. Just out of reach, Sora casted thunder magic on them, and Luigi did the same, for they knew that no more time could be wasted, otherwise the Egg Dealer would initiate another attack.

And what better way than to call in for some extra help?

Preparing to contact someone to be teleported in, Sora prayed for someone that could push the buttons on the Egg Dealer real fast while they fought off the Heartless. It would help give them time to catch up, and do some more damage to the Egg Dealer.

Teleporting into the midst of battle, Tracer took out her Pulse Pistols. "The cavalry's here!" She announced, before noticing the target she was pit against. "Huh, I've seen some interesting battle armors in my line of work, but never something like that."

"We just need you to hold him back while we take care of these guys!" Toad explained, also trying to fend off Heartless.

"Shouldn't be a problem at all," Tracer then zipped for the Egg Dealer, a blue streak of light coming from her speedy movements. Eggman was absolutely shocked, and appalled to see a human being do something that one of his worst enemies often did, which was moving at an insane, hard to match speed.

Eggman didn't even have the time to react because Tracer so quick, pointing the Pulse Pistols and rapidly firing at the Egg Dealer's buttons. The slides all stopped on the missiles again, just in time too, since Sora and his friends had taken care of the Heartless. "What? Wait! Abort launch!" Eggman shouted, as the missiles were fired, but lacking in a target, came right back and blew up on the Egg Dealer instead.

"Is that all you'll be needing? Think you can handle the rest of this on your own?" Tracer asked. "I'm willing to stick around and help for a short while."

"We should be fine, thanks though." Sora replied, catching up to the Egg Dealer while it tried to make a recovery. "We just need to figure out what else this guy has up his sleeve, and the safer way to find out is by wailing against that machine of his!" Since Toad was the fastest member of the party, he went and bopped the Egg Dealer first, followed by the other two.

The slides stopped on what appeared to be a blue cube, exactly like the ethers. "MP Fever?" Eggman questioned. "When did I add this? I'm a man of science, not magic! Did I have a future use for this or something?" While trying to jog his memory and think back to what the purpose of adding those slides were, Sora and his friends got a free refill of MP. A good excuse for Luigi to try and use his spells against the Egg Dealer while it was vulnerable.

"Look like you have this under control then! Let me know if you need me again." With that, Tracer left the battle to Sora, teleporting back to Dr. Light's lab.

Since the MP Fever was going on for a few more seconds, Sora and his friends kept using their powerful magic, even when the Egg Dealer began to start moving again. It seemed hopeless for Eggman now, as the Egg Dealer started to collapse.

"This can't be!" Eggman shouted. "Get back up, you worthless piece of junk— wait, no!" The moment he tried to move it around, the Egg Dealer got back up, but was now sliding around the place with no proper direction. Eventually crashing into the A.B.E-1997, Eggman had no choice but to eject himself from the machine, before it exploded.

Panicking, Sora ran over to the crash site. "Abe!" He called out, but was too late, as the Egg Dealer exploded with the robot underneath it. Sora immediately hung his head in shame, afraid that the worst had just happened.

"Sora, wait, look!" Toad yelled, tugging on Sora's clothes and pointing at the scene, once the explosions and smoke had been cleared. Coming out of the rubble of scrap metal, was Abe, kicking a flash drive aside. He wasn't even scathed from the destructive experience that had occurred near him. He held his head, then looked around, trying to figure out what had just happened.

He stumbled forward, then immediately felt safer once he noticed Sora and his friends were there. "Abe! You're alright!" Luigi exclaimed, running up to him with the others. "We were afraid that you were a goner!" Eggman's presence went completely ignored during the exchange, as he growled to himself, irritated that Abe had been broken free before sneaking off.

"You three rescued me not once, but twice now," Abe stated.  
"Maybe, but it's only fair. You saved all those Mudokons!" Sora replied.

"Well, now who's going to save all four of you?"

They turned their attention to Dr. Eggman, who was now sporting a different machine, known as the Big Arm. Heavily armored, having spikes on the top of it, and a pair of giant arms, only the cockpit appeared to be vulnerable. Orbot and Cubot appeared to be inside of the machine with him as well.

"That back there was only a minor setback! This time, I'll get rid of all of you before you can cause anymore problems!" Grabbing onto Sora and Abe with one hand, then Luigi and Toad with another, Eggman cackled, floating away with his enemies.

"What are you going to do with us!?" Sora shouted, as Eggman took the Big Arm all the way back to the Hot Shelter.

"I just thought you could all go for a dip," Eggman responded with a hint of joy in his voice. "Just be mindful of the sharks and other things in the aquarium!" Luigi immediately looked down after he said that and began screaming at the sight of what was in the Hot Shelter's aquarium. Several fish, a lot of them mechanical, having razor-sharp teeth that could tear them all to shreds.

Abe stood there, almost paralyzed with fear over what was going to happen, trying to mumble a chant, a prayer, anything to himself! Someone had to come help— if not him, then at least Sora and his friends should be safe. They were worth it, especially when they had the heart to come and rescue Abe in his time of need twice!

Somebody had to save them…

The sound of thunder and lightning could be heard outside the Egg Carrier, and just before Eggman could let go, a bolt of lightning struck down on the Big Arm, electrocuting all of those inside of it. Cubot and Orbot were first to fizzle out, followed by Eggman feeling the electricity go through his body. "What in— GAAAAAH!" He shouted, the Big Arm malfunctioning and stumbling backward from the shock.

Abe, Sora, Luigi, and Toad were released from its grasp, but were met with the hard metal flooring of the Hot Shelter, which knocked them all out, except for Abe. Just as sudden, was another Mudokon with a tribal mask appeared from thin air. "Big Face," Abe stammered, watching the Mudokon clap his hands together, beginning to chant. A glow began to surround the exhausted Abe, but he quickly took notice of the fact that one was not surrounding his new friends.

"Wait!" He yelled, making Big Face halt. "You have to save them too. I may be the Mudokon savior, but these three," Abe and Big Face glanced at them. "They are saviors too, they surely have a destiny to fulfill. I would not have saved the other Mudokons without them."

Big Face took a few seconds before nodding, continuing the chant to get them all out of here.

Once the five of them disappeared, Eggman pulled himself out of the Big Arms, not understanding what had just happened. "I don't think taking over Oddworld is going to be so simple anymore, Dr. Eggman." Orbot pointed out, before Eggman hit him over the head.

The powers that be were going to chase Eggman out most likely, although he didn't want to turn around and leave, there weren't many other options unless he wanted to die on that hill.

—

"Destiny… it is your destiny to wield that Keyblade, Sora. Do you understand what yours is yet?"

That voice again, the one which spoke to him in the dream, and spoke to him during the locking of Dreamland's keyhole. Just who was this woman speaking to him? Why did she want him to follow a destiny? It seemed like every time he went unconscious, this woman would talk to him.

"Riku and Kairi will soon follow theirs, very soon. But yours is one that is the most important for me, you must lock all of the keyholes, and reach the end. You are only a few away from coming close to your real purpose for me."

"What is the end?" Sora asked to the abyss.

"The fragments of lost worlds," the voice continued, "with your hand, things can be rebuilt. After you defeat—"

—

"Sora, wake up!"

Being shaken around by Abe definitely got Sora up and going. It wasn't exactly pleasant, especially when he was so close to getting some answers about what was lying ahead too. Standing on a stage within a cavern, Sora found himself and Abe surrounded by Mudokons who had been saved, all of them cheering, overjoyed that their heroes made it. "What's going on?" Sora asked. "Where did all these Mudokons come from?"

"They're the ones we rescued," Abe replied, "and in return, they saved us from that doctor. They were the ones responsible for striking him down when we were in a time of need. I asked Big Face to bring you all to safety with me. I couldn't leave you there, after all you've done." He explained, watching over the crowd. "Sora, this is a sudden question to ask I know, but do you have a destiny? Are you a savior from another part of Oddworld?"

There was a long pause, as Sora needed a moment to think about it. "Kind of. I do have a destiny to fulfill though. It's a long, and complicated journey. I make lots of friends along the way, like you." Just across the crowd of cheering Mudokons, Sora finally saw it, in a place he did not expect at all. A keyhole, staring directly at him, waiting to be locked.

"I'm just a few locks away from understanding my destiny, really," Sora continued, getting up and walking past several Mudokons, Abe following him closely. "And when I find out just what it is, I'll be reaching the end!" Pointing the Keyblade at the hole, a beam of light was fired into it. The Mudokons were in awe at the sight, and within just a minute, the soft clicking noise was heard.

"It's just as Big Face said then," Abe murmured, "you're the key-keeper, meant to continue on."  
"Huh? Sora wondered.

"When I told him that you were a savior in some way, and he brought us back here, he told me of another destiny, involving the one with a key. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but Big Face said that your part is important to many." Smiling, Abe held his hand out. "I guess this means I can't come with you, but I wish you the best of luck out there." Before parting ways, Abe then held out the flash drive from earlier. "Here, take this with you. I was stuck on the machine that I was trapped inside of."

Shaking his hand, and knowing exactly what to do with the flash drive given to him, Sora smiled back, and the Mudokons began cheering once more, knowing that the era of freedom for Oddworld, was just beginning.

(and that's the end of the chapter!)


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 9  
The Master Thief

Per usual, like every time after visiting a new world, Sora returned to Traverse Town, ready to hand over the jewel that was found in Oddworld. Rosalina was happy to release the soul trapped inside of it right away, waving her wand around it, freeing whoever was inside.

After the bright light faded, nearly everyone was surprised at the result this time around. Rather than someone armed and ready for battle, whether it be man or woman, instead there was a cute, burlap sack of a doll. It didn't appear to be confused about the current circumstances either, as instead, it was scared before laying its eyes on Sora and his friends.

Once the Sackboy made eye-contact, it began smiling, overjoyed to be free. "Uh, hi there?" Sora greeted, only to be met with a wave from the Sackboy. It seemed that it wasn't capable of speech, but some sort of grid, looking like a menu appeared over it. The Sackboy scrolled through its options before making a large sign appear, with the words "thank you" written on it.

"Aww, seems like a friendly little guy." Luigi laughed.

"We'll fill him in on what has been going on in a moment," Rosalina said. "Sora, I must thank you for freeing all of these lost souls with strong hearts. I still sense there are only a few left, and I assume you may already know where two of them are, and hopefully you will find them at long last."

Come to think of it, Sora hadn't found any of those gems when visiting Steve, or Kratos for that matter. Rosalina must've been hinting to that, no doubt, although neither of them could be certain that they were even there. On that note though, Sora did have an excuse to see Steve again, and perhaps finally find the one who had gotten lost in his world. Then he remembered something important. "Dr. Light, is it possible to bring me to the same point as the weapon?" Dr. Light thought for a moment. "It's possible. If I send you first, I can lock on to your coordinates and send you the weapon there."

"Great." Sora was already walking into the transporter. "And thank you."

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrr!

_

Sora stood for a moment, anxious about the delivery. A wave of relief washed over him when he saw something materialize next to him. Picking it up, it appeared to be a sword of some kind. Sora began to understand why Steve wanted it safe. It looked like the mightiest of his weapons, and definitely the one needed to bring peace back to this world.

"Sora!" Sora jumped at the yell, turning to see Steve heading to him. "You got the Sword!"  
"Yes, I didn't let it out of my sight, just as I promised!"  
"Excellent! Now hand it over!"  
"What?"  
"What, you deaf? I said hand it over! How am I going to defeat the final boss without it?"  
Sora noticed that his friend was acting strange, and took a closer look. A moment later, he instantly jumped back.  
"What is your problem?!"  
"You're not Steve!"  
"What?"  
"You are not my friend."  
"You got proof? Otherwise, you just got dumber than usual."  
"Steve is not rude, and would never say those things to me! Also, his eyes are not completely white!"  
"...Drat. So you were sharp enough to notice. Not that it's going to help you now! GIVE ME THAT SWORD!"  
"SORA, MOVE!"

Sora rolled to the side as a few arrows flew between him and the imposter. Relieved to see the real Steve, he ran towards him while the imposter was kept at bay. "Good to see you for real this time. And I got the sword too! Anyway, who is that?"

"The most dangerous person in this entire world…..Herobrine." At the mention of his name, Herobrine drew out a sword of his own. "I was hoping to leave you defenseless, then strike you down with your own blade, enjoying the irony of your end. Of course, there's no shame in doing it the old-fashioned way." Taking the Sword form Sora, Steve got ready for battle. "Sora, no matter what, do not interfere. This is something I have to do alone."

Before Sora could object, Steve ran forward, doing a mighty swing of his sword. Herobrine was able to block it, though it knocked him back a few feet. The next few minutes were filled with the clanging of swords, neither combatant giving an inch. The tension was broken for a moment when Herobrine spoke up. "Do you know what your weakness is, Steve?" Herobrine pulled out a pickaxe from behind. "You're tied down with honor." Herobrine swung the pickaxe, knocking over Steve and making him drop the sword out of reach. Before Steve could move for it, Herobrine got between him and it, pointing his sword at Steve's chest. Bringing it up, he gave an evil grin. "This world…..IS NOW MINE!"

CLANG!

Herobrine was knocked back when he was repelled, both he and Steve surprised to see Sora standing over Steve, blocking the sword with his Keyblade. "Sora? I thought you were to stand back. I said - "

"Yes, you did, but I didn't say I would. There was no way I was going to abandon you, because you're my friend! And we're going to take him down together!" Sora charged forward, releasing a wave of blows to Herobrine, who was unable to block them all. His situation got worse when Steve got his sword back, leading to a double assault. Herobrine brought his pickaxe back out, but Sora grappled it with his Keyblade and pulled it out of Herobrine's hand. The distraction that provided allowed Steve to knock away Herobrine's sword, leaving him defenseless. As he fell, Steve prepared the final blow, but Sora stopped him. "What are you doing?!"

"That's enough, it's over."  
"It won't be over until he is!"  
"If you do that, you won't be any better than him!"  
"I don't care! He must fall for peace to come back!"  
"Then if you have to strike him down….." Sora moved in front of Herobrine. "...Then you have to strike me down as well."

Steve just stood there for a minute, sword raised, looking into Sora's eyes. Slowly, the anger left his face as he dropped his sword. He leaned around Sora, looking at Herobrine. "You are beaten. Return where you came from, and return there." Herobrine quickly scampered off, irritated at his humiliation, but could not do a thing about it. "Thank you, Sora, for saving me from myself."

"It wasn't just me. Someone else said something similar when I was about to cross the line. And it's about time to get back to him. He still needs help where he is."

"Before you go, take this." Steve handed Sora what looked like a gem. "Herobrine dropped this. I think it might be more useful for you." Sora took the gem, having a good feeling at what it was. "Thank you. The danger may be gone, but let's hope we can meet again." Sora and Steve waved goodbye as the portal home opened up for Sora.

_

When Sora returned with the dark blue gem in his hand, both Dr. Light and Rosalina were thrilled to see him with the jewel, and they all prepared to unleash the one with a strong heart trapped inside. It seemed like soon, the patterns would be ending, with them all closing off with a gem being the prize for Sora's patience with his new friends. Willing to go out there and make new ones, and help those who were in need.

It felt good. In turn for helping Steve, Sora was going to help whoever was sealed inside, but he couldn't do any of it alone.

Toad, Luigi, Rosalina, Dr. Light, Steve, Kratos…

Sora would be stuck at square one if not for working together. And teamwork was something valuable to the one in the gem as well, as Rosalina proceeded to free him.

A grown man, a bit shorter than Sora. His armor was blue, much like Mega Man, but it was the armor of a knight's rather than some kind of android. His helmet had horns on it, and his face was completely obscured. The most peculiar thing about him though, was the weapon in his hand, which happened to be a shovel.

"Zounds!" He exclaimed. "What is this place? These mechanical creations, are they the work of Tinker Knight!? You there, where have you taken me? What have you done with Shield Knight?" The knight took a moment to absorb his surroundings, and Sora wasn't exactly sure what to say in response.

"Uh, I'm Sora. You're in Rosalina's observatory right now. We don't mean any harm, and we don't know where this Shield Knight person is." Sora explained to him, hoping to calm the knight down. "What's your name?"

Realizing that this boy wasn't hostile, the knight lowered his strange choice of weapon. "I apologize for jumping to conclusions, they call me Shovel Knight." He replied, striking his shovel to the ground. "Shield Knight is… a dear friend of mine. We had gone through a perilous battle, and I attempted to catch her, when suddenly everything had gone black."

"Your friend vanished also?"

Surprisingly, Mega Man had chimed in. "Sorry for eavesdropping, but my sister vanished also when things went black for us. Right Dr. Light?" The doctor remembered that day rather vividly. He was still amazed that he had somehow gotten out of that safely, and so did Mega Man, which made him worry for Roll even more.

"What? So this is something that is common?" Shovel Knight wondered.

"Yeah, Sora and his friends promised to find Roll, safe and sound. Maybe they can help find this Shield Knight person for you also! Right Sora?" Mega Man suggested to him.

Being put on the spot wasn't too great, but Sora definitely wasn't going to complain about people trusting him. "You can count on it! Leave the mystery of disappearing friends to me!" Sora couldn't help but find it funny how at the start, he was asking others to help him find Riku and Kairi, but now, others were asking him to find those they cared about.

"Your generosity is greatly appreciated, Sora. Please, allow me to aid you!" Shovel Knight said, before being held back by Mega Man.

"He can just call upon you if he needs help, like he does for a lot of the people he's helped." Mega Man laughed. "By the way, I like your armor! Fan of blue also, huh?"

No point in interrupting the bonding of two short friends in blue armor. Sora left the observatory, making note of the new friend he could call upon. He would most definitely be needed for where they were heading next, back to where Kratos was.

_

The trip back to Kratos took longer than they thought, mostly because Luigi was able to get a head-start in hiding the keys. After chasing him down, they had to tie him down before they could finally lift off. Halfway there, they (mostly Toad) upgraded to a gag to silence his fear-filled complaining. They let him loose after they landed, as well as after they secured the keys in Sora's pocket.

Heading to the arena, they were welcomed by a figure that was both welcome and unwelcome at the same time. Shao Khan, standing in front of his throne, the very air around him brimming with his self-confidence on his assumed victory. "So you actually did appear. I commend you on your bravery, foolish as it was."

"The only fool here is you, for challenging us!" Sora got into a battle stance, as Shao Kahn just laughed. "Then let us commence! But first, we need an audience to serve as witnesses." Shao Kahn gestured with his hand, making a curtain fall down, revealing people being hung up by the wrists. The trio gasped in horror as they recognized Liu Kang, Raiden, and a few others. Even Shang Tsung was among them. "Yes. All of the fools who defied me and failed me are here, to watch as I crush their last hope. And as they fall into despair, the darkness will overtake them, and I will have a legion of powerful Heartless to command. The Spartan got away though, but he will join my ranks soon enough. Though it was a bit strange seeing him hold hope in your arrival. A bit out of character, I suppose, but there is only one way to determine a warrior's strength. And that is through battle. So come, show me what you are made of!"

Shao Kahn jumped down, making a small shockwave as he landed. He immediately delivered punches that Sora and the others were able to block, but they were still sent back, and shaking at that. This was going to be one of their toughest fights yet.

The effort they put up was admirable, but nearly futile. They were unable to land a significant blow on Shao Khan, and his impressive strength was putting them entirely on the defensive. It got worse when Shao Kahn summoned his hammer, blowing them all away in one blow. Sora slumped to the ground, dazed. Shao Kahn raised his hammer for the final blow.

His attention was quickly grabbed, however, by a pair of swinging blades from the side. He leapt to avoid it, only amused at who arrived. "So, the cowardly Spartan returns. Will you actually fight, or will you run away again?" The only answer came in the form of a battle cry as Kratos lunged forward, actually able to push Shao Kahn back. Their parrying led the two of them out of the arena and towards a nearby cliff. "So, you try to make me fall? I overestimated you, Spartan."

"No. The final blow is not mine to make. It is those will bring back the light, whose time I have bought." Realizing what he meant, Shao Khan turned to see a recovered Sora walking towards them. "The difference between you and me, is that I have friends I can always count on. Including the one that I called in."

"What are you - ?"  
"HAVE AT THEE!"

Shao Kahn barely had time to look up as Shovel Knight started to bounce on his head, his shovel hit him right in his helmet. The initial shock took Shao Kahn off-guard long enough to allow quite a few bounces in, though it was a fleeting moment. Shao Khan was able to grab the shovel and throw it with its owner soon enough, breaking it in the process. "Oof! I fear that I cannot continue."

"Don't sweat it. You did great. We can take it from here." As Shovel Knight teleported away, Sora pulled some Pokeballs. "I found these on the way here. And they're willing to help." Tossing them, they let out the Pokemon in a one-by-one attack against Shao Kahn. The first one, identified as Hitmonlee, landed a flurry of kicks before jumping back. From behind him revealed a Pokemon that was flexing his muscles to build up his power. Sawk, as he was called, let loose with so many blows that they could barely be seen. And when he backed up, the final one, Kommo-o, fire a pulse of pure energy from its mouth, hitting Shao Kahn square on.

When the dust finally settled, Shao Kahn was stumbling. "It appears, that I am nearing my end. As promised, I will tell you how I know of your friends. There are a group of us working together, to control the Heartless and take over all the worlds by claiming their hearts. When we heard of someone opposing our plans, we took every piece of information we could get, and then some….."

"Then some, what do you mean?"  
"You friends are closer to this than you think, and you will not like the answer why! And while you may have defeated me and the others, final victory will be his!"  
"You know where they are?! Tell me!"  
"Farewell, Keyblade warrior!"

With one final step, Shao Kahn fell over the edge of the cliff, falling out of sight, and leaving Sora's question unanswered, a small victory that he could still claim. As Sora stood there silently, Kratos, and well as Toad and Luigi who arrived, knew better than to approach him. Sora turned to walk back to the Gummi Ship, his friends following behind.

As he passed Shao Kahn's throne, a strange light started to gleam from it. Turning to it, Sora saw the Keyhole appear on it. Raising his Keyblade and locking it, he started to calm down. Sealing the Keyhole reminded him of what he was fighting for, and who. He will find Riku and Kairi, no matter what, whatever it takes. Turning back to Kratos, he said his thanks and farewells, as they were now done with this world, news that Luigi was overjoyed to hear. Smiling, all three of them headed for the Gummi Ship, ready for the next world. Their mood raised some more as Toad pulled out a summon gem, revealing he saw it where Shao Khan fell, most likely dropping it after he was beaten. So a side trip to Traverse Town was needed to free another brave warrior.

_

The gemstone found was of a peachy, pinkish color. Toad was the one to bring it up to Rosalina rather than Sora this time around. "Here you go, Rosalina. One trapped hero, ready to be released!" Toad exclaimed, handing it over to her. "I bet considering how many times we've visited that brutal place, it's gonna be someone really strong and menacing!"

Toad seemed absolutely certain that would be the case, but when Rosalina began waving the wand around and the lights blinded them all, the reality of who was sealed inside, did not meet Toad's expectations at all. Standing tall, wearing a white suit that made him appear to have bulging muscles, the character had blue gloves, a ray gun, but the strangest thing about him was his head.

The brave warrior that Sora and Toad had anticipated, had the head of an earthworm. Luigi was relieved that it wasn't a menacing warrior at all, but was still surprised by what he was seeing. "Groovy! Finally out of that dark place!" The earthworm cheered. "I thought that Queen Slug-For-A-Butt had me for a moment and that I was a goner, but it looks like I was rescued after all!"

"Queen what now?" Sora questioned.

Realizing the situation he was in now, the earthworm checked his surroundings. "Oh no, don't tell me that your after my suit too!"

"No?" Sora replied. "What suit are you talking about? The one you're wearing right now?"

The earthworm allowed his guard to be lowered, just for now, since it seemed the kid before him didn't know what he was talking about. "Uh, yeah, my super suit! It gives me the strength I need to fight the bad guys. Without it, I'm just a regular earthworm!" Sora and the others were only more confused by it, but decided to take what the earthworm was saying at face value.

"I'm Sora, this is Luigi, and Toad!" Sora introduced everyone. "Behind you there is Rosalina, and we all helped free you. Don't worry, we don't have any plans to take your suit, I promise." Relieved to hear this, the earthworm settled into his surroundings.

"So, there's no sign of Psy-Crow or Queen Slug-For-A-Butt around here? That's a well-needed break!" Holding out his hand to shake Sora's, the earthworm smiled. "Nice to meet you by the way, I'm Earthworm Jim!"

Toad couldn't help but laugh at those names when they were repeated. "Nope, we don't know anyone like that, nor have we ever met anyone that would even fit those kinds of weird names. Anyway, you said you fight bad guys, right? So you can help us! We kinda do the same thing here on our end. Fight bad guys, protect lands, and assist others in need!"

Despite Toad's enthusiasm right now, Earthworm Jim didn't seem completely swayed. "What? I was gonna take a long vacation, and I was really looking forward to it and everything! Don't we get a break from all the crazy villains running around the universe!?" Sora couldn't help but agree with him on that last part, if anyone wished the weird villains would halt, it was him.

"You can still be on vacation, Jim. We would only ask for help when you really needed it, through the use of a teleporter." Sora explained further, directing him to it. "And don't worry, it's not like we're going to abuse your help or anything!" It sounded promising enough to Jim, since he really needed a break, but shouldn't let himself get rusty either.

"Alright then— holy cow! What is this crowd over there!?" Earthworm Jim yelled, which Sora and the others quickly took notice of.

Ash, Pikachu, Samus, Marcus Fenix, Tracer, Mega Man, Sackboy, and Shovel Knight were all hanging around, chatting to each other, a turn of events which Dr. Light didn't seem to expect, as even he was surprised about it. "Well, you've been freeing so many souls Sora, that they realized just how crowded it was becoming, so they decided to socialize about their ventures," Rosalina explained to him. "Jim, you're welcome to join them if you so wish."

"Well, it looks like a party over there, so don't mind if I do!" Trotting over to the crowd, Jim nearly tripped on himself while walking, and introduced himself. He was nearly met by Ash throwing a Pokéball to his face, but thankfully, Samus stopped Ash.

Now finally, Sora could head for their next destination, and maybe for once, he could have a break from some bad guys.

Very doubtful though.

Upgrading the Gummi Ship more and more made things much easier for Sora's trip lately, something that he was very happy about. On the way though, Luigi couldn't help but notice something, that appeared to be a space ship. He wanted to call Sora's attention to it, but it didn't look like it was bothering anybody or anything. It was just floating there, like it was patrolling the area.

Once Sora entered the new world, it appeared to be nighttime. They landed the Gummi Ship on top of a building, hoping that no one would find it. The first thing that caught their interest immediately, was someone standing, using their binoculars to stare at what looked to be a police station, judging by the sign.

"Le Police?" Sora muttered. "We're in a French-speaking area?"  
"Sssh, be quiet! That guy may hear us!" Toad chimed in.

The character's shape became a bit more apparent to Sora and friends, appearing to be a raccoon with humanoid posture, wearing blue clothes of the sort. He appeared to be speaking into a device, unaware that he was being watched. "Sly, come in! Sly! Do you read me?" A nasally voice called out to him, though Sora could just barely hear it.

"Yeah. I read you. Loud and... very loud." The raccoon replied.  
"Sorry, I'm a little nervous. Trying to break into Police Headquarters does that."

Wait, breaking into Police Headquarters? Did Sora hear that right?

"Get over it, Bentley. You're safe in the van. I'm the thief here, I've got to steal that file from Inspector Carmelita Fox." The last part made Sora cautiously lift his Keyblade, knowing that they had just caught a criminal in the middle of preparing a heist it seemed.

"Well, count on me to be your eyes and ears, buddy! Got their security system totally scoped."

"And don't forget you've got me at the wheel, Sly." Another voice called out to the raccoon. "All you gotta do is grab the file and get back to the van, then we'll do the rest!"

Yep, this sounded way too skeevy for Sora to ignore. The moment Sora decided to try to stop the thief though, he ran off and jumped for the vent, sneaking inside. Of course, that plan changed when Sora took notice of someone on the streets, taking care of a crime down below it looked like.

A fox? Very different from how Fox and his one friend looked, with her dark blue hair and such. She appeared to be wearing a police uniform, and while chasing after that thief would be preferable, Sora didn't want to get in trouble for any crimes he didn't commit. "Come on, let's inform that officer, before that robber gets away!" Sora exclaimed, running down the building's fire escape.

Just before the fox could throw the criminals in the back of the van, her ears perked up, hearing footsteps approach her. "Excuse me, officer!" Sora called out to her. The fox turned around, her hands on a pistol, ready to fire until she saw the boy. "I don't mean to alarm you, but I just witnessed a burglar planning to attempt to break into Police Headquarters."

"Breaking into Police Headquarters?" She questioned. "What did he look like, did you see him?"

"It looked like a, uh, raccoon?"

"Cooper," the fox muttered, "I will take care of it, thank you, young man!" Jumping onto a cop car and then climbing up to the building, the fox appeared to know exactly where the robber would go, almost like she could predict him. Sora meanwhile, distracted by the Pokéballs laying near the arrested criminals, took them into possession for safe-keeping. Flicking open the Pokédex, Sora saw that they were known as Kecleon, Murkrow, and Purrlion.

"Hey Sora, I wanna see how the rest of this cops and robbers game turns out, c'mon!" Toad exclaimed, running off. The three of them, including the very hesitant Luigi, walked over to the Police Headquarters, witnessing the thieving raccoon jumping out of a window, with a folder in his hands.

"Criminal!" The fox shouted, pointing her pistol at the raccoon. "You foolish raccoon, I've caught you red-handed!"

"Ah, Carmelita, I haven't seen you since I gave you the slip in Bombay."  
"Which reminds me, you need to return the Fire Stone of India to its rightful owners."

"Aw, and I was going to give it to you as a little token of my," he then paused, "hey, you know that bazooka really brings out the color of your eyes. Very fetching!"

"You think so? This pistol packs a paralyzing punch, you ought to try it." Firing an electrical blast at the thief, he narrowly dodged it. "Might snap you out of your crime spree!" After that, the thief began running down the stairs, trying to avoid the barrage of electrical fire coming down his way. Near the group of police cars, Sora saw a van, which appeared to belong to the thief, and he ran towards it, with Toad and Luigi close by.

They had to at least make an attempt at stopping him! Sora raised his Keyblade at the raccoon once he came dashing towards the van, and Luigi launched a fireball at the thief, hoping to stop him in his tracks. "Whoa now, we got some heroic bystanders here?" The raccoon questioned. "Sorry, but I can't babysit right now, talk to you later." Yanking the Keyblade out of Sora's hands with his cane, the raccoon tossed it.

To make matters worse, a large, pink hippo took ahold of Luigi and Toad, tossing them both with all his might. "Hurry up, Sly! Let's get outta here!" Both the hippo and the raccoon rushed back into the van, slamming the back door behind them, and floored the vehicle, dashing out of the scene. The fox continued firing at them, despite them being far too fast to catch up to.

"You can't escape me, raccoon!" She shouted, before giving up for the time being. Glancing at Sora and his friends, she put her weapon aside. "You three, I thank you for trying to help, but next time, please leave this dangerous work to the police. You're too young to be risking yourself like this!"

"Hold on," Sora stopped her, "we still want to help. I mean, I feel like it's my fault since I didn't stop him sooner. Is there anything we can do to recover the files he just stole?" The fox stood there for a moment, thinking it over.

"No doubt, Cooper was after information regarding the Fiendish Five. I bet my paycheck that he's most likely heading after the Isle of Wrath first. I can easily pursue him in a helicopter if I must." Before leaving, the fox turned around one last time, then sighed. "I know you feel partly responsible for Cooper getting away, but do not worry about it. This is something I can handle." With that, she left without another word to the group. It was only fair in hindsight, since getting bystanders involved probably wasn't a good idea.

"Well, what do we do now?" Toad asked, only for Sora to glance back up at the Gummi Ship.

There was most definitely a way to track them down in a short amount of time, and Sora would make sure that the thief got captured! That, and the keyhole for this world would be found.

"We're going to learn about this Fiendish Five group ourselves, and then track down that thief!"

—

"So this vixen here that was walkin' around in the town, she wasn't one of them chosen dames that we were lookin' for?"

The blue, female fox began to wake up, startled by her surroundings, wondering where she was. Just minutes ago she was wandering Traverse Town, since Fox had asked her to find Sora, but now, she was trapped somewhere. Her main weapon, a staff just out of reach.

Before her was an alien, talking to a young man with silver hair and puffy pants…

Wait, silver hair and puffy pants? Wasn't that boy, Sora looking for someone of that description? What was his name again, Riku? Why was his heart so dark? Even though the fox was telepathic, she could somehow feel darkness within this boy.

"There's seven of them, and Dracula says that she's not one of them."  
"You gotta be kidding me! Both of ya said it was a fox chick with blue hair!"

Not one of them? The blue fox sighed in relief, knowing that they meant her. What are the chances of there being another fox with blue hair though?

"The maiden we're looking for has the heart of pure determination, she never stops. And this girl isn't her." Riku explained to Crypto, the alien. "Just be glad I caught you making the mistake before it got really bad. Dracula told me before how you accidentally picked up that one knight with the shields instead of the robot girl. Now you don't have to worry about him chewing you out later. We're gonna leave all the dead weight behind in this place, including her."

"First of all, Drac's descriptions are terrible!" Crypto yelled. "He told me it was a blonde chick, wearing red, and may or may not have been armed. He didn't mention that Roll girl being artificial! Second of all, we went through all that trouble, can't we at least experiment on the freaks we kidnap!? Thirdly, just what the heck is Drac planning?"

"Who knows?" Riku answered. "As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less."

Kairi? That was the girl Sora was looking for also!

"You are only wasting your time!" Pox sneered. "Those Heartless have surely devoured her heart, it's more lost than anything that gets dropped into a black hole!"

"I'll find it," Riku retorted, "no matter what."

The two aliens, irritated, looked over to the prisoner. "Oh snap, how long has she been awake? You don't think she heard all that, do ya?" Crypto asked, mildly worried.

"Who cares!? Knock her back out and drop her someone, as soon as possible!" Pox demanded.

The blue fox gasped, being zapped by a peculiar device, which knocked her out cold once again. She had to simply hope for now that she would get out of this, and inform Sora of what was going on.

Riku meanwhile, began pondering to himself…

One maiden of beauty, one maiden of artificial creation…  
One maiden of courage, one maiden of nature…  
One maiden of wisdom, one maiden of determination…  
One maiden of pure heart…

All of them were devoid of darkness, and Dracula wanted them.

—

Much to Sora's luck, Otacon had quite a bit of intel on who the Fiendish Five were. They were a group of, well, five criminals that were up to their own schemes.

There was Sir Raleigh, a froggy fellow bored with his rich lifestyle that took to the thrill of piracy, sinking hundreds of ships in his time. Muggshot, a hound in charge of a large, gambling empire in the west. Mz. Ruby, a gator mystic who plans on unleashing voodoo terrors upon the world. And the Panda King, who was planning to cover a village with snow by using fireworks to set off an avalanche.

"I can't find any information on the fifth member, I'm sorry Sora. Nothing is coming up."  
"That's okay Otacon, that was still a huge help!"  
"Hey, I'm glad to still be of some use. Let me know if you need anything else!"

With that, the codec call ended, Sora had to make a decision on where he wanted to go first. Carmelita said that he would be heading for the Isle of Wrath first, but even with the locations Otacon gave, he said that it would be impossible to navigate, due to the storms that were there.

So instead, Sora made the careful decision to plan a course to Mesa City first, and just deal with Muggshot. That way, they could be one step ahead of that thieving raccoon!

They landed right outside the giant casino, and stepped right inside. The thing that stood out the most was the image of Muggshot himself, plastered on an entrance that said "Boneyard". It appeared to be locked up, but the simply solution of the Keyblade could solve that problem, couldn't it? The theory proved correct when Sora was able to bust off all the locks on a nearby panel, revealing a lever for him to pull.

"Look at the ugly mug on that door!" Toad said with disgust. "That's where one of the Fiendish Five guys must be hiding, just to stroke their ego a bit more, huh?"

"You may be right," Sora agreed, as the lever was pulled, opening the entrance to Muggshot's domain.

Sitting there in his chair, was a giant bulldog, with ridiculously oversized arms, small legs, and a mustache. He didn't appear at all too happy about the sudden break in. "Hold on, hold on! You don't come to straight to the boss to gamble your money away, go play in the casino! Hey, wait a sec, you're a kid!" The dog snorted at Sora. "Listen, there are no minors allowed in this casino, now scram!" Before he could say anything else though, Sora raised his Keyblade at the hound.

"We're only here to corner another thief and have him right where we want him, we heard you have something he wants!" Toad retorted, also putting up his shields.

"Well, I'll give you this, kiddos, you got some guts, I admire that!" Muggshot laughed, taking out his guns. "I'm guessing it has to do with the Thingus Raccamagoocus pages I've been holding onto for so long? Nice pictures, but way too many big words. Sadly, I'm not giving them up to any bandit, even if they're worth my salt, these things are a trophy for me!"

Clobbering Luigi and Sora out with his bare hands, Muggshot prepared to throw the two of them out of the casino, until noticed Toad standing there, unharmed. "As for you, mushroom kid, I'll just squish you, how about that?" Muggshot growled, only to be met with a kick to his shins.

"No way! I can take you on my own!" Toad shouted, lifting his shields. "Just try me, I'm not afraid of how big you are! I've met with worse, and uglier!" Laughing more at Toad's moxie, Muggshot pointed his guns, which got Toad to start running around the area. Giant crystals were the most notable thing, as were some mirrors which surrounded the weird crystals.

Having an idea, Toad knocked on one of the mirrors with his shields, noticing how they were reflecting the sunlight bouncing off the crystals to give off brighter lights. It was a stretch, but Toad wasn't sure how to physically harm Muggshot, so disarming him with a flash would be just as good perhaps. Getting close enough to Toad, Muggshot fired a few rounds at him, but Toad managed to successfully block them off with his shields, which he then used to flip more of the mirrors over.

"Take that!" Toad yelled, making all the lights point at Muggshot. Burning his hands with the heat lamps, the guns ended being melted, like a magnifying glass burning ants.

"My beautiful guns! Good thing I got a spare in—" Before Muggshot could finish that sentence, Toad jumped in the air, and bashed him over the head with his shields, knocking him down for the count.

"Large guy, but soft brains!" Toad said with a laugh. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall as it goes! Classic case scenario of the little guy coming up on top, yup! Are you proud of me, Sora?" Remembering that they were also unconscious, Toad ran up to them, and used his healing magic in hopes that they would become conscious in a short matter of time. "Hey, you two, you missed it!"

Sora and Luigi quickly came around, feeling their heads throbbing. "What happened?" Luigi asked. "Huh? Why is Muggshot down on the floor?"

"It was all me! I avenged you both!" Toad cheered.

"Really? All by yourself? Great work, Toad!" Dusting himself off, Sora looked around the area. "Now then, that thief was after the Fiendish Five for their treasure, so Otacon said, but what could that be?"

"Lookie here!" Toad chimed in, yanking some old papers off of a bulletin board. "That dog there mentioned pages or something, maybe it has to do with these? Something about a Cooper in here too!" Handing the old papers over to Sora, he looked at the pictures.

"So Cooper is a line of notorious bandits!" Sora exclaimed. "I think it's about time that this line of crime came to an end then, what do you say guys?"

"To the next Fiendish fella?" Toad asked.  
"You bet! We're going to get these, and then ask that one thief what this is all about!"

—

Sora made a quick trip on the Gummi Ship all the way to a disgusting swamp, which Otacon was able to pinpoint for them. The place reeked of death, the water was muddy, filled with bones and those who had lost their lives. Some Wight Knights were trudging about, along with Search Ghosts, which was enough to make Sora's skin crawl.

"The Fiendish Five criminal here was Mz. Ruby, a mystic who manipulates the dead," Sora gagged, while Luigi immediately jumped back into the ship. "Luigi, what's the problem? You can't seriously be scared, not when we've been coming so far! This is only just as bad as Oddworld and the Shadow Temple."

"I'm really afraid of ghosts!" Luigi cried out. "I didn't mind those-a Heartless ones so much, since they were just Heartless, but I can't deal with an actual haunted place! And we were only in the Shadow Temple for a short time!" Continuing to cower, Toad yanked him out of the Gummi Ship, and they made their way through the haunted swamp, carefully to not fall into the disgusting water below.

Sora then hesitated when he saw something the muck surfacing, reaching his hand out to grab it. "What are you doing!?" Toad exclaimed. "That's gross, Sora! What if those are someone's eyes?" Looking at the spherical objects, Sora swallowed his gut, and put his hand over the objects, taking them out of the muddy water.

Pokéballs, just as he has assumed— though there was an eye mixed in, just as Toad suggested. Sora, disgusted, threw the eyeball back and wiped the Pokéballs off on his pants. Scanning them really quick gave Sora the information on what these Pokémon were. Sableye, Krokorok, and Spinarak. Sora couldn't help but pity these poor things, being stuck in such a disgusting place.

"Mmm, I feel that outside vibe comin'," a woman's voice chanted, "most distastefully bad juju. That's right, I know you annoying guests are here. I've seen it in the stars!" Laughter soon followed, echoing throughout the swamp, as Sora came face-to-face with the voodoo mystic, a large alligator with a red bandana and dark hair.

"This lady gives me the creeps!" Luigi stammered, screaming at the sight of all the ghosts and Heartless surrounding her. "Are you controlling those-a Heartless!? That's-a dangerous!"

"I see your mouth movin', Italian, but all I hear is blah! Blah! Blah!" Mz. Ruby taunted, and with her mystic power, she captured Toad and Sora. "A hero with a heart, and a fungus! Just what I need to add to the pile of shiny bones in my brew!" Gasping at the sight of his friends captured, Luigi began to cower even more.

He couldn't leave them, but he was too scared to move. Luigi just knew that if he tried to fight this woman who controlled the afterlife and Heartless, he wouldn't stand a chance without his friends. "Sora, Toad! What do I do now!?" Luigi cried out. "I can't do this without either of you, no way, no how!"

"Yes you can, Luigi!" Sora called out to him. "Just face your fears, the only thing you need to be afraid of, is the fear you got for these ghouls!"

"If I could take down Muggshot despite my size, you can take on this hag despite your fears!" Toad encouraged. "Go for it, we both believe in you!"

Gulping, Luigi stepped forward, but then saw Mz. Ruby disappear with her army of Heartless. "Come back here!" Luigi shouted. "Don't you run from me! You're going to give my friends back, even if it means you have to do your worst!"

"You want your friends back so badly?" Mz. Ruby chuckled. "Then I'll have my friends bring you over here, so we can play a little game, which I share with all my intruding guests?" She suggested, making a turtle rise from the swampy waters. Luigi took a moment, then stepped on it, no different than a Koopa.

"What kinda game?" Luigi wondered.

"I'll unleash my new army upon you," Mz. Ruby explained. "If you pay attention, you'll dodge them just fine!" Chanting some magic without any warning, some Search Ghosts swarmed towards him from the left. Rather than attack, Luigi leaned towards the right, knowing he wouldn't be able to fight them with a mystic powering them up.

Then they came from the right, then the top, but Luigi avoided them all with no issue. Mz. Ruby changed the pattern up, frustrated at how nimble this man was. Not only that, but he was doing such a stupid, reckless thing, for his friends. Something that Mz. Ruby never had growing up, and it made her heart darken even more. The swarms of Search Ghosts soon became more random, but Luigi could still see them coming, anticipating each and every one that came forth.

Once it was over, Mz. Ruby blanked out. Her heart was gone, and there was nothing left she could do when Luigi launched ice magic in her direction, freezing her body. Once she was frozen solid, the Heartless lost their source of power, and both Sora and Toad were released.

"You did it!" Toad cheered for Luigi, who was surprised at himself.  
"I knew you could do it," Sora said.  
"But I couldn't have-a done it without your support," Luigi replied.  
"All for one, and one for all!"

Once they were done, the group of them ran up to the book of voodoo magic, having a feeling that some of the other pages the thief was looking for would be stored inside. The theory proved correct, as pages dating back to a bandit in ancient Egypt was documented.

Soon enough, they would capture the master thief, and corner him about what his master plan could be!

—  
Things changed once Sora and company flew all the way to China, where it was snowing. A stray firework nearly hit the Gummi Ship, forcing them to park the thing sooner, otherwise they would no doubt be caught in the Panda King's explosives. "Ugh, it's freezing!" Sora complained, stepping through the snow.

"Attention, valued employees." A voice spoke over an intercom, echoing throughout the mountains. "It has come to my attention that a thief is loose somewhere inside the firework production facility. Please do your part to pitch in by killing this intruder on sight. Thank you, that is all."

Great, so Panda King was aware of the intrusion. "Well, at least he sounds polite to his employees, even if it had to do with killing us." Toad said. "That and there's the staff about making avalanches, that's messed up too. Best if we find him now!"

Sora recalled Otacon stating that his explosive factory resembled a temple, and headed in the direction of the large one… which could only be accessed by the use of a bottle rocket, sending the three of them straight to the Panda King's temple. They dropped themselves onto the ground below before the rockets could explode, albeit, not with the most graceful of landings.

The room was calm, the large Panda King was sitting there, drinking tea, puzzled at the visitors before him. "Are you here to pay for avalanche protection? There is still plenty of time, before I bury most of the villages in snow. I am willing to offer refuge, for a price." His voice was calm, much different than Muggshot and Mz. Ruby, which caught Sora a little off guard.

"No, we're the intruders— well, visitors, but you probably think of us as intruding, as we are kind of." Yup, so off guard, that Sora ended up making himself feel awkward. "We're here for the pages, so we can capture Cooper, and figure out what's going on!"

"The Cooper ancestry?" The Panda King blinked, putting down his cup of tea. "I have held these for ten years, as a mark of success, and a piece of history. However, each time I look at it, I also feel sadness. To give it to a stranger, it would not only remove a burden, but it would also destroy the pride I had been building! Why would I throw away the respect I have gained?"

"Respect? No, people are cowering in fear down there probably!" Sora retorted.

"Insolent child!" The Panda King got up, irritated now. "If it is these pages you so desire, face me alone, without your allies, so we can see who is worthy of holding them." Raising his hands, they were lit on fire. Sora looked back, and nodded to Toad and Luigi, knowing he had to fight the Panda King on his own.

He would make the Panda King listen to reason, even if it required a few beatings first. "Fiery wheel!" The Panda King yelled, raising his hand, then spinning in a circle while standing on his head. Sora was caught by surprise and knocked back. "I have only recently just mastered the art of Flame-Fu, child. Witness this firework technique." The Panda King then unleashed fireballs at Sora, who had to make sure to avoid them, or he would be toast.

Managing to dodge every fireball that came in his direction, Sora got back up close to the Panda King. "Fiery Wheel!" This time, Sora jumped over the attack, which the Panda King anticipated, as he prepared his next move. "Palms of Thunder!" The Panda King raised his arms and then slammed his hands down, but Sora held his position rather than moving into them, managing to stay away from the flames.

"Booming Chop!" Lifting his right arm, the Panda King tried to strike Sora where he was, but Sora moved out of the way in time, and gave the Panda King a finishing blow to the gut. Holding his body in pain, the Panda King fell over to the floor. "Your skill is incredible, for that of a child, such a force to be reckoned with at your age, is worth so much respect." He coughed.

"Listen, Panda King," Sora started, "people don't respect others because of their strength, but for how they act! My friends and I respect each other for who we are, and for aiding each other. And you don't seem like a bad guy maybe, but you need to break off from the Fiendish Five and stop this avalanche plot!"

"Years ago, I was humiliated," the Panda King muttered, "despite my admiration for the art of fireworks, pouring my life into it, noblemen turned me away. My attire was deemed shabby, despite my years of dedication. I had to have revenge."

"But you can be better than them, you don't have to do something like this to earn respect! And if they turn you away for your appearance, then you shouldn't even be bothering with them!" The Panda King lifted his gaze to Sora. "I've heard the way you talk to your employees, you don't threaten them, you're calm and polite. I know you're angry about what happened, but I know you can be a better person!"

"I have done many things," the Panda King muttered, "and I'm afraid I cannot turn back now."

"That's not true!" Sora yelled. "If you keep going this path, you'll lose your heart to the darkness, and this life of crime, won't it affect people you know? What will they think if they lose you one day, because of the life of revenge you've chosen!?"

The Panda King's eyes widened at Sora's words.

"Jing King," the Panda King whispered.  
"Who?"

"I," he stammered, "I am, terribly sorry, my child. You only speak the truth. This choice I have made, all just for my selfish desires. I have done such horrible things, that cannot be forgiven. My daughter, I would not be surprised if she hated me for these atrocities that I commit. But now, I can see the light. How foolish of me, to pursue what I wanted, when I already had what I really cared for!"

Sora tried to help him back up to his feet, but since he was quite heavy, Toad and Luigi had to help him. "Your daughter will forgive you, so long as you never lose your heart, keep believing in your family, and what you really—"

The heartwarming moment was immediately ruined by someone diving in, tackling the Panda King back to the floor. "There's no room for sympathy on this frustrated firework artist turned homicidal pyromaniac." Sora gasped when he saw who it was standing there, the raccoon from before, who Sora had been tailing after. "Sir Raleigh gave us a tip that you'd be hiding here, you wanna hand over the pages you stole now?"

"Hold it!" The raccoon's ears perked up, making him bring his attention to Sora. "We already defeated him fairly, and you're not getting away with taking those pages he's holding onto!"

"You again?" Raising a brow, the raccoon folded his arms. "Uh, kid, how in the heck did you get here before me?" Something then caught his eye, creating a shift in the raccoon's mood. "Wait, are those pages from the Thievius Raccoonus you're holding onto?"

"Yeah! We wanted to get them from the Fiendish Five so we could figure out what your master plan was!" Toad exclaimed. "I bet you're gonna use these documents to learn from your other generations, and become the richest thief or something! We know your game, Cooper! Give it up!"

"Uh, are you insane or something? Okay, I'm going to correct you right now, Cooper is the family name, but my name is Sly, got it?" Increasingly irritated, the thief, now known to them as Sly, began gritting his teeth. "You went, and attacked the other members of the Fiendish Five, just to get ahold of me? How in the heck did you find out about them anyway?"

"Inspector Fox told us!" Luigi replied. "We got to those Muggshot and Mz. Ruby fellows before you could take their pages!"

"What!?" Actually sounding angry now, Sly used his cane to yank the pages out of Sora's belt. "No, this is a personal mission, this has nothing to do with me being a thief! Listen, I steal from other criminals, okay!? And the Fiendish Five? What they did, made them a target of mine for years!"

"Stealing is still stealing, what did they do that—"

"They took down my father." Sly dryly said to Sora. Everyone went cold right then and there. "The Panda King? The guy you were trying to reason with? Ten years ago, he was in on it. I normally don't share that, with anyone, but he and the other members knocked my father down, stole pages from the Thievius Raccoonus, a tome passed down for centuries, which led to me being orphaned until I had grown up. Now do you get it? Why I was after them?"

"It is true." The Panda King added, shocking Sora even further. "The horrible deed I had done ten years ago, it is one I cannot take back." Once the dispute was over, Sly began to exit, not even bothering to look back at Sora. Not another word was said from him either.  
Sora felt like an idiot, and there was nothing he could do. He thought he was trying to help catch a master thief, but instead, he was ruining the personal mission of someone who lost their father. The Panda King was once again, overridden with guilt, as he tried to console Sora. "It is not your fault, do not blame yourself for this happening. Only I and the Fiendish Five are to blame. You were only acting for what you believed to be right at first glance. The least I can do to atone for what I have done, is tell you the location of where he may be going. Chances are, it is where the leader of the Fiendish Five is hiding."

"Leader?" Sora questioned. "We didn't hear anything about the leader."

"Clockwerk. He keeps himself hidden by the Krakarov Volcano, in Russia. It is him who organized the murder of Sly's father. He is more than what he appears to be." Panda King then coughed, still hurt from the battle. "If you wish to make things right with Sly Cooper, in the same way you are helping me correct myself, you must be careful."  
With the Panda King's advice, Sora and company knew what they had to do. Correct what they had done, and try to help Sly defeat Clockwerk.

(Chapter end)


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 10  
Reunited at Last?

Krakarov Volcano, Sora wasn't sure what to expect when he got there, but it certainly wasn't Heartless flying around. It appeared to be a new type of Heartless also, one he had never seen before. They wore a blue bandana on their heads, had wings, and rather muscular arms. These kinds of Heartless, were known simply as Air Pirates.

"This place is crawling with them!" Toad exclaimed.  
"I'm guessing this Clockwerk guy is a magnet for Heartless." Sora suggested.

This made Sora worry about Sly, since it would probably be the first time he would go up against foes like Heartless. And even if it wasn't, there were too many of them for Sly to handle in such a dangerous place. They all had to hurry, and make things right! The van could be seen from below, which made Sora park the Gummi Ship a reasonable distance from it. Approaching the van, Sora knocked on its doors.

A turtle with glasses rolled down the window, nearly expecting an ambush, but instead was met by Sora waving at him. "Uh," the turtle hesitated for a minute, "are you the group that took pages from the Fiendish Five that Sly complained about? How did you get all the way over here!?" Sora couldn't help but wince, realizing how negative of an impression he must've made on Sly, not that Sly's own impression at first was too good either.

"Yeah," Sora said, "we just wanted to apologize, we didn't know what Sly was collecting those pages and breaking into Police Headquarters for. We just immediately assumed that he was, well, up to something bad. We kinda jumped in without thinking, so I wanted to apologize." Rubbing his head out of guilt, Sora looked the other way. "We heard about how the Fiendish Five attacked his father, and Clockwerk was the main perpetrator. So I figured we should make things right, even if Sly hates us."

The tense worry in the turtle began to fade away, he had been afraid that the kid and his group of friends were going to get in the way, but it seemed that he was wrong. Granted, the only reason the turtle came to such a conclusion was because of how irritated Sly was earlier about it. "Listen kid, we all make hasty mistakes at a young age. I mean, I bet if I was younger, and I saw someone breaking into Police Headquarters, I would do the same, silly thing that you did because I wouldn't have gotten the whole picture! I gotta admit though, it's either really brave or really stupid to go against Muggshot, Mz. Ruby, and the Panda King at your age, and on your own."

Sora couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, I'm not on my own on this adventure! My friends and I all work together, that's the reason we've come so far. And we make sure to make all kinds of friends on the way." The turtle looked over to Toad and Luigi, who both smiled.

"You're telling me you work in a team of three, like Sly does?"  
"Yeah— wait, what?"

"You see, when Sly was dropped off at the orphanage, he met Murrary and I." The turtle then glanced over to the pink hippo, the one responsible for tossing Luigi and Toad before. "For years, we've been a team, until we became old enough to become thieves of our own. Each of us have our own role in the operations that we pull off." The turtle then became hesitant again. "Sorry for rambling, it's just not often I see someone working in a way similar to us!"

"You weren't rambling, it's fine," Sora assured him. "Luigi, Toad, and I are all looking for our friends who went missing. Brother in Luigi's case."

"Speaking of which, have you seen Mario around here? Has a mustache and wears a red hat?" Toad asked. "Sometimes he likes to run around in active volcanoes!"

"I'm afraid I haven't. Name's Bentley by the way." Opening the van's door, he let them in, something which surprised Sora. "Sly has been gone for a while now, and you really want to help him, I suggest coming along with me." The three of them hopped into the van, only now seeing how much more spacious it was on the inside.

Although he intended to inform Sly over the binocucom about the visitors, Bentley soon began to worry even more. "Sly?" No response. "Sly? Can you read me?" Still nothing. "Oh no, he's not responding! I'm afraid something might have happened. We need to hurry!" Murray, the hippo, immediately began driving the van to where Sly might've gone, deeper into the volcano.

—

Upon going deeper into the lair, there was Sly Cooper, trapped inside of a gas chamber, with Carmelita Fox also trapped within a barrier of some kind. "Carmelita!? What's she doing here?" Sora exclaimed.

"Oh no, that cop probably tracked us down all the way over here! I better hurry, before that gas turns Sly's brain into cheese!" With some quick hacking skills, Bentley managed to crack the coding in the computers, which shut off the gas. Sly got back up, shaky from his experience, then shattered the barrier which contained Carmelita.

"I really was wrong about him," Sora muttered to himself, "he may have broken into the Police Headquarters, but he's willing to help innocents, huh?"

After that, Sly finally picked up on the binocucom once again. "Thanks for the save there, Bentley. Listen, Carmelita and I have a truce right now. She's going to cover me while I reach the top of the Death Ray to get her jet-pack back." Before Sora could say anything, the communication ended.  
As the van carefully pulled up to watch Sly, he managed to climb all the way to the top of the tower, grabbing Carmelita's jet-pack and putting it on. "Sly! Behind you!" Bentley shouted, as Sly turned his attention to a flying figure, which had risen to face the raccoon.

The figure was an owl, his body entirely made out of metal, his voice was cold, and menacing as he spoke. "Remarkable, you Coopers always find a way to cheat death until the very end, it seems." Chills went down Sora's spine as he heard the owl talk, something about him just felt more unnatural than usual.

That was when Sora realized something. "Wait," he said, "Bentley, wasn't there a flying figure in the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus? I only held them for a short time, but I think I saw something that looked like an owl in those pictures." Bentley quickly opened the Thievius Raccoonus to confirm, and Sora was correct. The silhouette of a large owl was in just about every image, dating back to even the oldest in the Cooper line.

"Is he immortal or something?" Toad wondered.

"My desire for revenge is the prime ingredient in the fountain of youth," Clockwerk explained to Sly, for all to hear. "I've kept myself alive for hundreds of years with a steady diet of jealousy and hate, awaiting the day when I would finally eclipse your family's thieving reputation. Now, the day has come for me to end the family line once and for all."

Once Clockwerk said that, Air Pirate Heartless began to surround him. "Those creatures that were near Sir Raleigh's lair, they're here too!?" Bentley exclaimed. "This is bad, there's no way Sly and Carmelita can face Clockwerk and those monsters on their own! Sora, I know it's dangerous, but do you think you could help?"

"It's-a over a pit of lava! That's-a easier said than done!" Luigi stammered.

"Then we'll have to call for some assistance!" Making sure the teleportation was ready, Sora quickly attempted to contact Dr. Light. "We need help! Can anyone there fly!?"

"You bet!"

The voice that came back surprised Sora. Teleporting into the van was Mega Man, having a robotic dog with him. "Rush can jet me anywhere if I ask him to! So where's the enemy?" The ground began to shake underneath the van, making Luigi scream for his life.

"Giant robot owl!" He cried.  
"Mega Man, take me with you!" Sora requested.

"Huh? But, I dunno if there's room for two—" Before Mega Man could object, Sora stepped on Rush along with him. The dog didn't seem to mind at all, and began flying off to the fight scene. "Well, okay! Just don't fall off, I don't think I can have Beat come rescue you." Mega Man then began shooting at Clockwerk, while Sora began using his magic against the Heartless, or his Keyblade if they got too close.

Something caught Sora's eye while flying around on top of Rush. It was at the side of the tower, where Sly was fighting Clockwerk. "Wait, something here can help us! This way!" Sora commanded, making Rush fly towards the broken up piece of the tower. Pokéballs, lying right there of all places. Sora had to be careful though, because one wrong move, and they could end up dipped in the lava, lost forever.

Typhlosion, Unown, and Moltres. The last one on which, had fiery wings, meaning it was capable of flight and most likely not bothered by the volcanic scenery. Sending it out, Moltres screeched, releasing a powerful heatwave which disposed of the Air Pirates for good. Sly managed to take notice of Sora and Mega Man, but decided to ignore them for now, focusing only on Clockwerk, since he was the common enemy here.

Clockwerk metal armor began to fall apart after being ganged up on. Losing power, he dived into the lava, seemingly done for. "What are you doing here?" Sly asked Sora. "You can't possibly want to take more pages from Clockwerk, I'm not going to let you."

"It was a misunderstanding, and I'm sorry!" Sora yelled. "I want to make things right, so—"

He was interrupted by Clockwerk coming back out, his endoskeleton being revealed. "He's still going? How is that possible!?" Mega Man wondered.

"I don't get it," Sly spoke, "you're so familiar with my family. You must have known my father had a son. If you hated the Coopers so much, why did you let me live when you stole the Thievius Raccoonus?"

"Because I wanted to show the world that without your precious book, the Cooper line was nothing," Clockwerk replied. "It was wrong of me to assume that, but you are still the weakest Cooper I've yet encountered. I'll finish you like I finished your father. Then the Cooper line will be erased, and the only master thief will be Clockwerk."

His cold, metal heart made of hatred, would be giving up soon, and Sora knew it. "Dedicating your whole life to this and plotting murder? You're not even a thief anymore, you're a monster! You're full of darkness, and those creatures are feeding off of your hatred!" Clockwerk glanced at Sora, releasing an electrical ring at him and Mega Man.

They weren't able to dodge it in time, and were shocked, falling onto a rock within the magma. "I'm afraid that's the most I can do to help you, Sora. I'm sorry." Mega Man apologized, kneeling over to Rush, who had been electrocuted. "I need to take Rush back to Dr. Light for repairs, are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be just fine! Hope Rush gets better soon." With that, Mega Man and Rush teleported back to Dr. Light's lab, leaving Sora by himself. Carmelita opened some spots for Sly, so he could take down what was left of Clockwerk, who was now struggling to keep himself in the air. Even Moltres was eventually shocked by the rings, and ended up falling. Sora attempted to retrieve Moltres back with the Pokéball, and succeeded. "This Clockwerk is no joke," he mumbled.

Thankfully, it seemed Sly had him on the ropes now, as Clockwerk dropped back into the lava, not able to get up this time. "Sly! You've got to get to his head and destroy it before his auto-reconstruct circuitry kicks in!" Bentley told him. Sly did exactly that, making a careful landing before leaving the jet-pack behind, attempting to reach what remained of the owl.

Clockwerk's heart had gone blank by then, however, and Sora could tell. "I must destroy the Coopers," he said, even more emotionless than before. "I will become… I will live… darkness." Raising his head and turning it 180 degrees, Clockwerk stared down at Sly. "You will never be rid of my hate."

A different kind of Heartless appeared behind Sly Cooper, having a red banana on its head, an eyepatch, and carrying curved blades. Sora, taking a literal leap of faith, jumped to where Sly was, on top of Clockwerk's body. Sly was worried for a moment, until he noticed that true to how things seemed now, Sora was on his side, slicing at the Heartless with his Keyblade. "I'll take care of them, I know it's personal with you and Clockwerk!" Sora yelled to him.

Nodding, Sly held back his cane, and swung it at Clockwerk's mechanical head multiple times, until Clockwerk's head had completely popped off. It sunk into the lava, mechanical whirring could be heard, the light of Clockwerk's eye flickering for a few moments, before going out for good.

Once Clockwerk was gone, Sora thought he had seen something within the lava. It was hard to make out, but Sora was certain that it was a keyhole. Pointing the Keyblade at it while Sly recovered the last pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, Sora fired a beam into the keyhole, making the hole in the lava close back up, with the soft locking noise being heard.

"Sly!" Bentley shouted. "Look up above you!"

His ears twitched, and Sly glanced upwards, seeing a figure fall down towards them. Holding his arms out, he caught whoever they were, and Sora was first to recognize them— or her— as one of the members of the Star Fox team.

Before anyone knew it, a light of some kind was cast over Carmelita, and it began pulling her up. Due to how close she was to the Cooper Van, it ended up being pulled along as well.

"What's going on!?" Toad shouted.  
"We're being abducted!" Luigi cried.  
"Aliens!?" Murray exclaimed.  
"Let me go!" Carmelita demanded.

"Guys! Carmelita!" Without thinking, Sly made a swift jump, and ran towards the beam, hoping to pull Carmelita back down with his cane. Instead though, he got pulled up with them, straight into a large mothership, the one that Luigi had seen earlier. By the time Sora got over there, it was too late. His teammates were gone, and so was the Cooper Gang.

His hands clenched around the Keyblade, furious that someone had just taken away his friends. But then he remembered, and looked back to the blue fox, who was slowly regaining consciousness. She mumbled for a few seconds, holding her head, realizing who was standing there. "Sora! Is that you?" She asked, uncertain as to where she was. "Thank goodness you're here."

As much as Sora wanted to ask her what the heck had just happened, he had to take a bit of time, otherwise, he might scare her. "You're Fox's friend, but I don't think I ever caught your name." Why did the staff in her hands look so familiar, like he had seen it somewhere before?

"It's Krystal. There's no time for introductions I'm sure, you have to listen to me. I was walking in Traverse Town when I was suddenly beamed up by that mothership. The ones responsible, I think it was the one friend you were looking for, Riku!" Sora's eyes widened, his anger boiling even more. "They were searching for girls, and I had gotten mixed up for one of them, so they dropped me down here. Whoever they pulled in just now is their real target."

"Girls?" Sora wondered.

"I don't know if this is of any help to you, but your one friend, Kairi was mentioned." Sora gasped when he heard that name, and immediately began to run back to where he had landed the Gummi Ship. "I'll tell you more when you return!"

—

Sora didn't even have to think about the decision he was about to make, as the Gummi Ship was pulled into the large mothership, and landed right inside. He hopped out, and made a run for it, looking around inside the spacious area of the mothership.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora."

Looking down a corridor, there was Riku, glaring at Sora.

"Good to see you again."  
"Where are Luigi and Toad?" Sora asked.

"Are they that important to you?" Riku asked back, his gaze becoming colder. "More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about her."

Riku then moved out of the way, revealing a slumped Kairi.

"Kairi!"  
"That's right. While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora tried to run up to Riku and Kairi, but soon found his path blocked off by a short, grey alien, who was poking him with a gun. "Slow it down there, captain! Afraid you won't be causing any shenanigans on the Furon Mothership." To make matters worse, Sora was now surrounded by Heartless.

"Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless!?"  
"The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear."

Gritting his teeth, Sora finally lost his cool, and pushed the alien, Crypto, aside just so he could lash out. "You idiot! You're stupid!" Sora screamed. "Kor, Mz. Ruby, and Clockwerk all made the same mistakes, and guess what happened!? They'll do the same to you! They'll swallow your heart sooner or later!"

"Not a chance, my heart's too strong."

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well. Like this, for instance." Holding his palm out, a shadow formed in front of Sora, mimicking his appearance entirely. Sora was absolutely astonished when he saw it, distracted long enough for Crypto to zap him with a device, knocking Sora unconscious. "You can go see your friends now," Riku said, mockingly.

Riku then turned his attention to Crypto and Pox. "Let's get underway already. Keep Sora away from Kairi, until we make it." With that, he walked away, taking Kairi with him.

"Why, that no good, smelly human, thinking he can order us around!" Pox complained.  
"Yeah, well what are we gonna do, Poxy?" Crypto asked.

"Nothing!" Pox replied. "The Furon Mothership is crawling with Heartless! They can keep an eye on all of those prisoners!"

"Uh huh, and what if that sneaking thief makes a plot to break out?"  
"There's no way a bunch of furry animals are going to plan an escape!"

Crypto made sure to remember that, just in case those words bit Pox back in the butt.

—

"You don't say?"  
"Yeah, it was definite Kairi," Sora said. "I've finally found her."  
"Alrighty! Let's go talk to her then!" Toad cheered.  
"Yeah!"  
"Sounds-a great," Luigi sighed, "but could you get off of me?"

"Oh," looking down, Sora realized that he and Toad had been piled onto Luigi. "Sorry about that!" They all got up, peeking from the outside of their prison, looking over to the cell across from them. "Sly! He's here too! Hey, Sly!"

The raccoon lifted his gaze to Sora. "Looking for a way out of here?"  
"Aren't you stuck in here too?" Sora asked.  
"Nope, just waiting on Bentley."

The prison barrier went down and opened up, freeing Sly Cooper from his cell. Bentley and Murray approached him, thrilled to be back together once again. "Great work Bentley. Quick fingers you got with the hacking, I'm surprised that those aliens didn't strip you of everything you had. Guess they aren't as smart as they look. You find Carmelita yet?"

"I have actually, along with another girl… Oh no, please don't tell me you're going to try to rescue Carmelita again, it already went over badly when we were trying to find Clockwerk!"

"We can't just leave her there with a bunch of aliens, it wouldn't be right! Besides, stealing just won't be any fun without her." Sly explained.

"Sly, your ridiculous raccoon logic sends shivers up my shell, but fine." Doing some hacking once again, Bentley opened up Sora's prison cell, freeing him and his friends. "We're gonna need all the help we can get. Those black creatures with the aliens aren't messing around! The six of us though can surely take them if we all work together."

Sora smiled, while Sly pondered the idea. "Working together with the kid and his weird friends, huh?" He held his hand out in front of Sora, but then immediately pulled away when Sora tried to shake it. "Alright, but we're only in this together until we find Carmelita."

—

"Hey Poxy," Crypto started, "remember when you said, 'there's no way a bunch of furry animals are going to plan an escape' a while ago?"

"Yes, of course, why?"  
"Well, I got news for ya, the prisoners escaped."

"What!?" Pox screamed. "Hurry and bring the hostage to me, Crypto!" The gray alien ran off, leaving the Furon emperor to his devices. He had to make a plan to stop Sora if it got that out of control, and Pox knew exactly how to do so.

—

Finding Carmelita wasn't as challenging as they all thought it would be. She was in a different set of prison cells within the Mothership. "Carmelita!" Sly called out. "Don't worry, we're here to get you out!"

"A second time?" Carmelita sighed. "I don't get it, Cooper. I've hunted you for years, tried to throw you behind bars. But when you get a chance to leave me in a cage, you set me free. Why?"

"Carmelita, we may be on opposite sides of the law but you're not my enemy and you know that," Sly explained to her. "Now, the freaks that decided to abduct us? They're on my list now." While Bentley proceeded to try his hacking skills on Carmelita's prison cell, Sora came up to it.

"Uh, Carmelita? Is there another girl in there with you?"

"Yes actually," Carmelita then moved out of Sora's view to reveal Kairi, who was slumped, just like she was before. "She seems to be asleep. Hasn't moved an inch, even though I tried to shake her awake."

"Kairi?" Sora called out to her. "Kairi—"  
"Sorry to break up the reunion here!"

Having a gang of Heartless with him, some of which were shadow versions of Sora himself, Crypto raised his blaster at the group while opening the prison cell on his own. "I was ordered to keep you lot away from the ladies, and that's just what I plan to do. Get 'em!" The Heartless swarmed the group, while the shadowy doppelgängers of Sora took ahold of the prisoners, getting away with Crypto, while the others were left to be distracted.

"Darn it!" Sly grunted. "We gotta go after them!"  
"We can't right now, we're surrounded!" Luigi pointed out.

The whole group of them attempted to wipe out all the Heartless as quick as they could, even though Sora was extremely put off by the clone of himself. Sly swung his cane at the Pirate Heartless, yanking away its blade, then rolling into it while it was defenseless. Toad meanwhile, blocked a Pirate with his shields, leaving the Heartless wide open for attack. Murray, while a bit scared at first, brought it in him to pick up the Heartless with all his might, chucking them across the hall. Bentley however, could not fight back, so he remained in his shell, which the Pirate Heartless struck, only to be knocked back by Bentley's natural defense. Luigi took the chance when that Heartless was open, using fireballs to get rid of it.

With all of them out of the way, the group kept moving. By the time Sora and company reached a higher level of the mothership where Crypto had ran, the alien was nowhere in sight. Instead, Riku stood there, carrying Kairi in his arms.

"Riku, wait!" Sora yelled, but he was ignored, as Riku backed away, making the shadowy copy of Sora appear. Unlike the other doppelgängers, this one carried a mimic of his own Keyblade, and had bright, yellow eyes. As Riku fled the scene, Sora made sure to not let the doppelgänger get to him this time.

During the battle, it seemed like the whole group of allies weren't doing damage to the copy, and he was able to do almost anything that Sora could, except use magic. Luigi halted, realizing he had a rather risky move which had not been of much use. Not until now, at the very least. Dashing up to the AntiSora, Luigi began spinning around, activating some magic power.

"Cyclone!" Accidentally making contact with Sora himself in the process, Luigi spun around, creating a whirlwind which smacked AntiSora around. Once he stopped, Luigi felt a little dizzy, then noticed he had harmed Sora.

"It's fine, actually," Sora muttered, "come to think of it, isn't that a form of magic you used just then? How long have you had it?"

"Um, long enough? I never use it, because I thought it would be too risky. But right-a now, I just want to save your friend!" Rather than upset over the damage he had taken, Sora seemed actually surprised that Luigi had been holding onto a form of wind magic for so long.

"Thanks Luigi!"  
"Why?"

"For coming so far in helping me find my friends, becoming so courageous on the way, and passing off…" Sora then began to shout out his next attack, "Aerora!"

A powerful gust of wind blew the AntiSora away, doing a significant amount of damage to it. In retaliation, AntiSora split up, having two replicas of itself. At first, they all thought that AntiSora's stamina was split up into three, until they saw that no visible damage was being done to the copies, except for one, which mixed itself back up.

"Everyone slow it down, allow me to pick out the real deal!" Bentley said, taking out a small device, making a green, holographic marker appear on the real AntiSora. "Found it! Sly, you attack the real fake, and then the rest of you join him!" Sly did exactly that, sneaking up on the one AntiSora to the left of them, and then taking him down via diving. Everyone else followed suit, wailing on AntiSora until a puddle of darkness formed underneath him.

Rather than sinking slowly, AntiSora was immediately pulled in, and the puddle of darkness vanished. Only problem was now, was that there was a fork in the road. "Alright, let's split up for now. Kid, you take the left, while my gang will take the right." Sly suggested.

"My name is Sora you know, also no way! We should be sticking together!"

"It wasn't a yes or no option." Sly replied, running off into the corridor on the right, shutters closing behind him and his friends.

Mildly irritated, Sora gave up and took the left, finding himself in a lab, and what he saw next was absolutely jarring. Three Pokémon, out of their Pokéballs, fainted and hooked up to devices. "Are those aliens," Luigi stammered, "conducting experiments on the Pokémon!?" Sora took out the Pokédex to confirm that was indeed the case.

One Pokémon known as Gallade was hooked up to several devices, as if its behavior was being studied. A small Pokémon known as Gothita, had a band and several suction cups plastered to its head, indicating that the aliens were studying its brain patterns. A fox Pokémon, Braixen, was locked up in an electric cage, and had cords attached to its tail.

"This is too horrible!" Toad cried out. "Sora, we have to free them!"  
"Hey, hey! Don't forget about me!"

Sora jumped, putting the Pokédex away, examining the opossum that was strapped down to an exam table. Much like Shovel Knight, he was wearing blue knight's armor, though it appeared that the back part of it had been pulled off. Come to think of it, the back part resembled a jet-pack more than anything else. "Boy, I'm so glad someone sane finally showed up! Can you get me out of here? Before those aliens come back to dissect me?"

Seeing a tan gem next to the exam table, Sora soon realized that this was similar to the case with Marcus Fenix, with someone being unsealed from their gem much sooner than anticipated. "Toad, Luigi, free the Pokémon while I help this guy." Sora's companions nodded, trying their best to release the Pokémon without harming them. Toad used his healing magic, which relieved the Pokémon of their injuries, while Luigi put them back into Pokéballs.

Sora undid the straps which had been keeping the opossum character tied down to the exam table. "Whew, thank goodness for that! I was certain I was a goner. Guess I'm too far from Elhorn to try and attempt any escape plans." The opossum then shook Sora's hand. "The name is Sparkster! What about you?"

"I'm Sora, this is Luigi and Toad." Sora introduced. "We're chasing down those aliens, they imprisoned a friend of mine, and they're planning to take her away!" Shocked, Sparkster grabbed his sword, which had been put aside for examining. Putting his jet-pack on, Sparkster raised his sword.

"Then count me in to help you! You got me out of being dissected, so it's only fair, let's go stop those aliens!" Preparing to take off, the whole group chased after Sparkster, hoping that he wouldn't get too ahead of himself.

—

"Hey, Sparkster?" Toad asked. "Where did you get that jet-pack? Where can I get one?"

Admittedly, between Sly and Sparkster using one, Sora had to admit, he was a little jealous and wanted to fly himself. Though he probably wouldn't have been as blunt about it as Toad was. "I got it when learning the ways to become a Rocket Knight. You see, I was adopted by Mifune Sanjulo, the Rocket Knight Master! He taught me everything he knew when I was young. I'm sure if you ask, you can get something like it, but just don't use it for evil!"

How does one use a jet-pack for evil?

"Who was responsible for tying you down to that table anyway?" Sora asked.  
"Well, wouldn't you like to know!"

Straight ahead, Sora had unwittingly stumbled upon the main lair of Pox, who was sitting in a hovering chair. "I'm not happy at all that you all managed to escape, what's worse is that you freed those strange creatures I planned research for the glory of Furon! To top it all off, that slimy Riku boy, he and Crypto ran off with those girls in the saucer."

"Where!?" Sora demanded to know. "Tell me right now where they went!"

Pox could only laugh at the boy and his companions, who trying to look menacing in front of him. "I'll humor you I suppose, they went to the Hollow Bastion, where Dracula resides. I only told you this because you won't be going there, I'm afraid! Not unless you want these two to have their brains scrambled!" Pressing a button on his chair, Sora gasped when he saw Bentley and Murray, imprisoned inside of an electrical barrier.

"Now, the lot of you, I don't really care about. Why even that smelly roadkill can walk free, I'm not interested anymore." Sparkster began gritting his teeth, growling when Pox said that. "But you, however, Sora, with all the things Riku has said, I think I'm going to be fair. Surrender, and you can all walk away, while I study you and your otherworldly weapon!" Pox demanded, laughing more maniacally. "Refuse or try to fight against me, and I'll be making turtle soup and hippo meat right in front of your eyes!"

"You're the worst one yet!" Toad shouted.  
"I know," Pox cackled. "Which will it be, Sora? Your body and Keyblade? Or these animals?"

The four of them didn't know what to do, they were stumped. Was this really it? The end of venturing with the Keyblade? It was going to end with Sora being tested on by aliens for the rest of his life? His friends would have to go on, and search for Mario and Kairi without him. Sora was just about ready to drop the Keyblade, but…

"Don't worry Sora, I got you covered."

"Eh?" Pox raised a brow, unaware that a third party was behind his chair, messing with the settings. Uncloaking himself, Sly made his presence known, which made everyone ecstatic.

"Sly!" Bentley and Murray exclaimed.  
"Hey, where were you!?" Toad asked.

"Trying to stay out of view until the time was right." Shutting down Pox's chair made it crash to the floor, freeing Bentley and Murray as well. "Thanks for not jumping into a fight right then and there. I was really afraid I would lose my friends if enough time wasn't bought, but it seems you really do care about us. Guess we should have stuck together like you said." Sly then smirked at Sora, who smiled back.

"You filthy, no good… Curse you!" Pox grumbled and cursed under his breath, reactivating the systems on his suit. "Looks like I have no choice but to scramble you all myself!" The chair began to hover once again, but this time, it began to expand, shifting and folding metallic pieces out. It had become a Mech.

To make things worse, was that the mech itself had elements resembling the Heartless. "Behold! This is the power of Furon science, we have unlocked the true capabilities and power of the Heartless by examining their DNA!"

"You mean today that those black creatures are mixed in with your weird chair?" Sly asked.  
"Silence! Now perish!"

Pox started by swinging the mech's deformed fist down at his enemies. Sparskter flew up, trying to get a good hit at the mech's head, only to have lasers fired at him. "Bentley, you gotta come up with a plan!" Sly said.

"Like what!? Not for nothing, but I'm panicking here too!"  
"Anything!" Sora replied. "Just make it quick!"

Examining the mech over as fast as he could, the turtle spoke up. "That mech has some poles and cords you could probably slide up on, and from there maybe you could damage that mech. But I dunno how anyone would stun that thing even for a second!" Luigi decided to try stunning the giant mech with a thunder spell, but it was blocked off by a barrier.

This guy, he had to have a weakness, even if it was on a mech relying on Heartless power, something that was beyond what Nefarious and Eggman were capable of. "Maybe we're overthinking it, and it's something small, like a loose bolt?" Murray suggested. Sly and Sora looked each other, then at the legs of the mech, which indeed, had some loose parts.

"Got it!" The both of them replied, running up to the legs of the mech. Sly used his cane to yank out a large bolt, which was almost his own size. Sora did the same with his Keyblade, since Pox was entirely focused on taking down Sparkster. Once the bolts were loose, Pox lost his balance, and the legs lost their connection.

Sly took the chance to scale the large mech, preparing to tear off or blow up some of the circuitry that was close to the head. He placed down a mine, which mimicked the appearance of his hat, then detonated it. But just as he jumped away from the explosion, Pox grabbed him by the tail. "I don't think so, you hairy rat!" Pox screamed. "Destroying my barriers, try it again, I dare you!" Even though the mech had no legs now, it did a drastic amount of damage, throwing Sly directly to his friends, as hard as it could.

Bentley shelled up before he could be hit, but Murray tried to catch Sly, taking the harsh blow like a champion. "Sly!" Sora gasped, glaring up at Pox. "So which barrier is down, you coward!?" Pox didn't even give Sora a response this time, other than trying to slam the mech's fist down where Sora was, but Sparkster pushed him away just in time.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Pox swiped at them again. "Just die already! You disgusting creatures will never top Furon science!" Now it was Sora's turn to think, as fast as he could, now that Sly and his friends were down. Sparkster kept flying around to distract Pox, trying to get a hit in. Finally, he launched a beam of energy from his sword, which indeed, struck Pox without being blocked off by any barriers.

"Sly shut off the barrier around the cockpit! It's vulnerable to strike!" Sparkster declared. "If you can stun him there, we can try to take off the other parts too—"

Before that sentence could be finished, Pox grabbed onto Sparkster, crushing his armor and jet-pack. The opossum cried out as he came crashing down, Toad hurried to try and heal him, but was finding himself running low on magic, having to rely on potions instead. Unfortunately, no potion could help the unconscious rocket knight.

With that, then there were three. Luigi cast ice magic, hoping to freeze Pox's face, literally. It succeeded, allowing Sora and Toad to try to find a way to take off the mech's arms. Just like the legs, bolts were loose. Bentley, unable to cower from this any longer, began typing on a small, portable computer.

Once the arms were loosened, they dropped to the ground. Pox stood there, astonished once he was no longer stunned by the ice. Shifting and turning the arm controls of the mech, to no avail, Pox began screaming again. "I will disintegrate you all into nothing but dust!" Attempting to shock Luigi and Toad down with powerful blasts, he didn't do exactly that, but they were still down for the count, unable to handle the mech's strength.

"Luigi!" Sora cried out. "Toad!"

Just like before, Pox had Sora cornered, the laser cannons pointed right in his direction. "Admit it, human! Furon science and the power of the Heartless are an achievement, one that the universe shall gawk at! Those fools Nefarious and Eggman, they are nothing but weaklings compared to the great Orthopox of the Furon Empire! I suggest you surrender yourself now, before it's too late!"

"I don't think so!" Bentley retorted. "Try your own alien technology on yourself for a change!"

"Eh?" Pox didn't understand, until several security panels opened up, paralyzing the mech with electricity. "You— you hacked into the mothership!?"

"And that's not all, Orthopox. This ship will be self-destructing if you don't let our friends free!" By the time Bentley said that, Sly was regaining consciousness.

Of course, Pox simply laughed. "You think my life being threatened is so bad? Cloning is possible on our planet, you see. Even Crypto is just one of the hundreds of Cryptos that had been dispatched! It would be no different with me, I will come back, and I will study that weapon of yours, Sora!"

Clenching his fists and looking at the Keyblade, Sora calmed down, and smiled in the face of his dangerous opponent. "You know, Pox, right? Not too long ago, I met this Clockwerk guy," Sly explained, "and I gotta say, I don't know how, but you managed to top him in terms of crazy. I don't even know you, and you didn't take down my father or anything, but somehow I dislike you more by a small margin."

"You want this Keyblade so bad, Pox?" Sora asked, raising his arm. "Then take it!"

Without any warning, the Keyblade was tossed at the cockpit of Pox's mech. The force of it was so strong, that the mech ended up snapping in two, and Pox began screaming again, this time in uncertain pain. "Sora… Sora!" Pox screeched, the mech falling apart, as he held his face. "I will get you one day, and I will destroy you for humiliating the glory of Furon science!"

"This alien science is nothing compared to the need to protect friends, I'm afraid," Sly replied.

Everyone regained consciousness and looked back at Pox one last time, seeing the look of hatred on his face as he covered his left eye, where the Keyblade had made its impact. "I will return, and destroy all of humanity! Even if Heartless take me now, the next version of me will be free to despise you disgusting creatures!" Reaching his hand out to grab the Keyblade, it vanished, and reappeared in Sora's hands. Slamming his alien fists on the floor, he watched as Sora and all of them took their leave.

Just in time, as the Furon Mothership would soon self-destruct.

"I'm going to kill you, human!" Pox screamed one last time, vowing to have revenge.

—

With everyone loaded onto the cramped Gummi Ship, Sora couldn't help but be depressed that he lost Kairi again, but he was satisfied knowing that she was just in reach at the Hollow Bastion. Sparkster had gotten back up, upset over his armor being beaten so badly, so Sora offered to bring him to a place where it could be repaired.

Landing back in Krakarov Volcano, Sly tilted his hat downwards. "Listen, Sora, I'm sorry I was kinda rude to you when we first met. I lost my cool, and that wasn't like me. You're a good kid, willing to stick up for your pals. Think you can forgive me?" Sora nodded in response.

"If it weren't for you, I would have been experimented on back there. Also, you shouldn't have to apologize! I mean, you had a right to be angry with me when I jumped the gun and assumed what you were doing was bad." Sly couldn't help but chuckle at this, knowing that indeed, this was one of the many drawbacks for being a thief. "Listen, we're going to try to find Carmelita for you, okay?"

Sly's ears perked up. "You are?"

"She's in the same place Kairi is, and I feel like it was partly our fault, so we're going to bring her back!" Sora declared. "Now we just need to find the Hollow Bastion, and be prepared for it."

"If I may interrupt," Sora looked over to Krystal, who had been at the Krakarov Volcano this whole time still after being dropped there. "I recall the name of another girl mentioned, I believe her name was Roll, so it's safe to assume a lot of missing girls may have been taken to this Hollow Bastion place."

"Roll?" Sora questioned, remembering that name very well.  
"Huh? What makes you say that?" Toad asked.

"I'm telepathic, and for the past few hours, I could sense cries of distress coming from far away." Krystal explained. "Those aliens have made multiple mistakes, picking up the wrong girls in their search. Sora, I would hurry if I were you, there's no telling what kind of trouble they're in, but they are pleading!"

"A telepathic lady, huh?" Sly asked, raising his eyebrows. "Pretty interesting friends you have there, Sora."

"Sly, don't even try to cause more trouble with blue-haired fox girls," Bentley grumbled.

The whole group of them laughed, and with that, Sora said his goodbyes to Sly, wishing the best for their team, and in turn, Sly hoped that Sora would find Carmelita soon.

—

"Hey, Sora."

"Hm?"  
"When we grow up, let's get off of this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"  
"Sure. But isn't there anything fun to do now?"  
"Hey, you know that new girl at the mayor's house?"

"Did you hear what they've been saying? I think she arrived on the night of the meteor shower!"

…

The young Riku looked back at the wooden door one last time, mainly, the keyhole that was on it. Something about it seemed like it was…

Beckoning him.

—

Riku panted, his body slowly giving out from how much power he had used. Looking up slowly, his vision was blurry, but he could tell that Dracula was standing before him, giving him a look of pity. "How reckless of you to push yourself, and use as many distractions as possible, just to bring them here," Dracula spoke. "Those dark powers, they could cost your very heart."

Suddenly, Riku's heart pounded, his body jumped from the sound of something passing through the wind at a high speed. He turned around, grinding his teeth. "Ah, it seems there are castaways. Their world perished, but their heart did not." Dracula chuckled softly, amused by the persistence of who was running around. "When Crypto and Pox took away some of his dear friends, he pushed himself to find them, using nothing but his own willpower. Fret nothing though, for no harm will come to you. Even he is no match for your power."

"My power?" Riku said, still breathing heavily.

"The untapped power that lies within you," Dracula explained to him. "My child, the time has arrived I believe, for you to awaken this power, unlocking your full potential." Spreading his arms out, Dracula's cape fluttered, and a green light began to surround Riku.

Why… why did this hurt? What was he doing?

What would happen to him?

—

The trip back to Traverse Town was a bit more interesting than usual. Sora had to explain what happened to Krystal when he brought her back to the Star Fox crew, and while they were worried, the group of mercenaries were glad to have their teammate back. "Geez laweez, that Dracula guy isn't messing around. What does he want with a bunch of broads?" Falco asked.

"I am uncertain, other than the fact that it was not me who Dracula was looking for. I'm relieved, but at the same time, I'm worried about what could be going on." Krystal then turned the toad who had a hat on. "Slippy, Sora is going to a place known as the Hollow Bastion, and I sense danger coming from that place. We need to upgrade Sora's ship, so it's prepared."

"Hey, I was willing to do it for free, since he brought you back safe and sound!" Slippy croaked.

"Sora, I can't thank you enough. I thought something was weird when Krystal went for a stroll but then didn't come back. We really owe you one." Fox explained. "So we're going to adjust your ship to handle getting into potential dogfights, how does that sound? It's the least we can do." Sora nodded in response, allowing the adjustments to be made. He wasn't sure if he would ever get into something like a dogfight, but perhaps it was better to be safe than sorry.

Once that was done, Sora and company brought Sparkster back to Rosalina, and explained how he ended up being abducted. Dr. Light was more than willing to fix up his armor and jet-pack, so that way Sparkster would be ready to go back into action. It seemed Mega Man was really intrigued by Sparkster's jet-pack also, while Shovel Knight showed interest in his armor design. He was relieved to have been rescued, and his armor repaired, willing to be called upon should Sora need him again.

"Hollow Bastion," Rosalina shuddered at just the name of it. "A place crawling with Heartless, some of the worst ones, no doubt. The last, lost soul should be there, trapped in a jewel. However, I am almost certain that you will not make it far enough without the power of the stars." Several small, golden starts surrounded Sora and Luigi. They touched the stars, uncertain what power they would be granted from it. "Gravity," Rosalina explained, "and its more powerful counterpart, Gravira. It creates a small event horizon and will crush your targets. I did not give this spell to you sooner, for I thought it would be too dangerous. It shaves off a fraction of enemy health, and leaves them open for attack. Please use it wisely."

There was a long pause, as Rosalina had a look of uncertainty on her face. "Sora, if you come back from your journey to the Hollow Bastion, and there is still greater forces to take care of, I will grant you the most powerful version of all the spells you have known. I need you to prove that you and Luigi can handle such great power in your hands."

"Why not give it to them now?" Toad asked.

"She just said, Toad, we need to prove it. We're going to bring back the last, lost soul that's in Hollow Bastion, I swear on it!" Sora declared, although, as he said that, he appeared to be just as uncertain as Rosalina was. "Now c'mon guys, we gotta turn in those Pokémon to Professor Oak."

—

After that was done, Sora was still uneasy. He was looking at the ground, anxiety growing in his body. Eventually, he just stopped walking, unable to go any further, closing his eyes shut. Luigi and Toad immediately took note of the depressed expression on him, and knew that something was wrong.

"Sora? Are you okay?" Luigi asked. "Come on, let's-a go already!"  
"Yeah, remember what was said before? No frowning, and no sad faces!" Toad chirped.  
"How can you be so cheerful? There's still no sign of Mario. Aren't you worried?"  
"A little, but…"

"Mario told us to find the holder of the key, and we found you!" Toad explained. "So, as long as we stick together, it'll all work out okay. You just gotta believe in yourself, that's all!"

Sora looked back up at them, staring off into the distance, his voice going quiet from those words. "Just believe," he muttered, thoughts trailing off, as a familiar voice called out to him.

"I believe in you."

Sora envisioned himself flying, straight into a light. He didn't know where he was going, or where his mind was heading for that matter, as his eyes were blinded by a flash, all the way back to young, more simple days.

He could see a young girl with red hair, running up to an older woman who was sitting in a chair.

"Where am I?"

"Long ago," the old woman started, "people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light." The smile on her face didn't go away as she continued the story. "Then, people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves, and darkness was born in their hearts.

"The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared… But small fragments of light survived, in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It is the world that we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That is why worlds are still scattered, divided from each other.

"But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return. So listen, child, even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away." The old woman finally paused, looking at the small girl before her. "Do you understand, Kairi?"

"Kairi!?"

Sora, floating in the midst of a library, looked down at the young girl with red hair. He began to reach out to her, but then…

She vanished, with light blinding him once again, snapping him back to reality.

Gasping, Sora opened his eyes, staring at his two friends.

"Huh?" Sora looked around, still in a daze.  
"What's the matter?" Toad asked.  
"Um, nothing." Sora then started mumbling to himself. "Kairi, did you call me?"

-

(end chapter)


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 11  
Hollow Heart, Plastic Mind

"Adjustments on Gummi Ship complete," ROB 64 announced, "navigations and ability to enter all-range mode has been added. Good luck." As the robot stepped away from the Gummi Ship, so did the toad, while Fox looked rather proud of the adjustments that had been made.

"A little young to be flying and possibly getting into dogfights, but you never know when you'll need it. Anyway, Krystal told me about that Hollow Bastion place, and it sounds really rough over there, crawling with those Heartless creatures. Not to mention she senses Dracula's presence over there. You sure you think you're going to be okay?" Fox asked, which was followed by a nod from Sora and company.

"We've gone through worse at this point!" Toad declared.  
"Alright, but don't say Fox didn't warn you," Falco responded in a snappy manner.

"Hey Sora, if you ever want help on the new controls, you can contact us perhaps!" Slippy suggested. "Peppy is really good at shouting out advice." After hearing his name mentioned, the old hare woke up from his nap, wondering if someone was calling him.

"Yeah, we had to stop Slippy from installing pointless motion controls." Falco joked.  
"Shut your beak Falco, they aren't that bad! Give it a rest already!"

After having a good laugh, Sora prepared for takeoff, ready to venture forth, in a place that might be the most dangerous yet…

—

Sora's nerves were getting the better of him. They landed in the area of Hollow Bastion just fine, the area seemed to mostly consist of a gloomy castle, surrounded by water, yet it was making him anxious for some reason. Once he landed the Gummi Ship and set foot into the world made up of waterfalls moving upwards, it only got worse.

"Wow," Toad said, "it's beautiful!"  
"Why do I know this place?" Sora mumbled.  
"You do? That's weird."  
"I feel this warmth inside, right here." Sora then held his chest, his heart pounding.

"Maybe you're just-a hungry?" Luigi asked, only to be immediately freaked out by a loud, crashing sound that came from above the waterfalls.

"Let's go!" Sora exclaimed, as the group of them began to scale the icy rocks, making sure not to fall off into the water. The task of jumping ended up being a difficult one for Sora and Toad, but not Luigi. On the other hand though, Luigi did end up slipping and sliding a lot more than the other two.

When they reached the top of the waterfalls, Sora went quiet, seeing Riku. He wasn't alone though, as three characters were confronting him. A blue humanoid animal with quills, a fox with two tails, and red animal with dreads. They all appeared to be facing Riku down, even though he had the higher ground it seemed.

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless, how did you three get here?" Riku asked.  
"I simply believed," the blue one answered, sounding cocky. "Nothin' more to it!"

"When our world fell into darkness, you took away our friends!" The fox shouted."We all vowed to find them, no matter the cost, so now, we're here!"

"And you better give them back!" The red one growled.  
"Why don't you try then?" Riku snapped back.

Shouting, the red animal jumped up into the air and began gliding straights towards Riku, his spiked fists pointed in Riku's direction. Just before he could land a punch on Riku, he flipped backwards, avoiding the animal's attack. Without any warning, Riku then struck back with his own weapon, making the animal fall down to the ground, grunting in pain.

"Knuckles!" The other two shouted.  
"Stop!"

Interrupting the fight, Sora and his friends stepped in, making everything come to a halt. "So, you finally made it." Riku laughed. "About time. I've been waiting for you. We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me, as I've always pushed you."

"Riku—"  
"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Let the Keyblade choose its true master!"

Sora gasped, feeling the Keyblade be ripped out of his hands. It soon vanished, and reappeared in Riku's grasp, shocking the whole group.

"Huh!?"  
"What!?"

Riku stared at the Keyblade, especially keen on examining the red "M" that was attached on the end of it. "Dracula was right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door, and change the world." Holding the Keyblade up to his face, Riku closed his eyes.

"But that's impossible," Sora muttered, "how did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

"You were just the delivery boy," Riku sneered, swinging the Keyblade, then putting it away to take something else out. "Sorry, your part is over now. Why don't you go play hero with this?" Tossing a wooden sword in Sora's direction, Riku began to leave. Toad and Luigi looked at each other, extremely hesitant.

"Let's," Luigi stammered, "let's-a go. We have to follow the mission."  
"Uh, I know Mario told us to follows the key and all, but," Toad looked back at Sora.

"Sora, I'm sorry." Luigi murmured, as the two of them began to walk away, following Riku instead. After a minute, they were out of earshot, allowing the hedgehog to speak up.

"Geez, what kinda friends are they!? Ditching someone the moment they lose some stupid key to someone's house?" The hedgehog spat. "Knuckles, are you alright there?"

"I'm fine, Sonic," he grunted, clearly in pain.

"No, you're hurt." Despite being in despair over the event that had just transpired, Sora managed to pull himself together. "Don't move too fast! I'll heal you." Using his Cure magic, Sora managed to restore Knuckles' energy, something that the other two were thankful for.

"Thanks," Knuckles said, "what's your name? And why did you come here?"  
"And what was up with your backstabbing friends?"

"I'm Sora. That was Luigi and Toad." His words trailed off for a moment. "I came to find someone very important to me. What about you guys?"

"I'm Sonic," the hedgehog announced. "Sonic the Hedgehog! That there is Knuckles, the Echidna. And over there is my best buddy Tails! We came here on our own, to pick a fight with those responsibility for ruining our world and taking our friends. We aren't leaving without them!" He explained, able to keep up his confidence in a rather dark time. "How about you tag along with us, seeing as your buddies kinda ditched you? We'll help you find the person important to you too!"

Sora had lost the Keyblade, and his friends, but the one standing before him had gone through just as much it seemed. Sonic had lost his world, his friends, and only two were standing by him, yet he was remaining confident, and able to go through anything.

It gave Sora the willpower to keep going, he wasn't giving up.

—

"Woah, that's some story." Tails was in awe as Sora discussed the circumstances that led him to Hollow Bastion in between battles against whatever Heartless would appear.  
"Yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that his friends still ditched him." Sonic facepalmed as Knuckles acted like his usual blunt self.

"That's ok. I don't blame them. Their mission was to follow the key, and it led them to a different path than mine. But I know that our friendship was real. And the time when we fight together again isn't far off."

"Adorable. That was so heartwarming that I almost threw up."

All four heads turned in shock to see a giant mech staring down at them. And what was an even bigger shock for Sora was the familiarity of the voice. "GLaDOS?!"

"Yes. After your attempt to murder me failed, the people here kidnapped me and forced me into this new body. They have forced me to be the head of security, so that means that I have to exterminate you. I don't want to, really, but I have no choice. I will truly regret ending you."

Not a single one of them believed that, as they started doing evasive maneuvers to dodge the immediate lasers and missiles. Sora knew that his sword couldn't put a dent it, and the others' attacks went doing much either. He quickly activated the Codec.

"Hey Sora, what's up?"  
"Octacon! Can you get any information on this thing?"  
"What thi - REX?!"  
"Rex?"  
"Metal Gear REX! A walking nuclear tank! How did they get it? It was supposed to be destroyed!"  
"Then you know how to destroy it?"  
"Even better! I'll send the one who did!"

Otacon hung up before Sora could say anything more. He was forced to go on the defensive for a minute before a bright flash appeared, followed by a rocket flying out of it, hitting REX square on. Snake walked out holding a launcher, smoke blowing out of it. "That….was strangely nostalgic."

"Snake! Am I glad to see you…huh?" Sora was surprised to see Sackboy hopping off of Snake's back, smiling at seeing Sora again. "Guess you really wanted to help, huh?" Sackboy nodded enthusiastically, before pulling out a strange helmet with a launcher. Putting it on, he turned to REX, and surprised everyone by launching cake at it. It seemed to land a good hit, as hit it around the center, making it stumble for a second.

"Not bad. He was able to hit the cockpit."  
"Now you did it. You took the cake that I was so generous to give you, and then throw it into my face. Even though I have no choice in destroying you, I will now start to enjoy it a little."  
"You were enjoying it before you made your presence known."

Quickly shaking the cake off, GLaDOS resumed firing at the heroes. Dodging became a bit more difficult, as there were more heroes to move around, and GLaDOS was edging them closer to the edge of the balcony. Snake's firepower was helping a lot, but GLaDOS got wise to his moves and moved into positions that better protected the cockpit. Sonic was able to move faster and get close, but there was little his spines could do against the reinforced metal. "This isn't working! We need a new plan!"

"Well, it's an AI, right? Then maybe we can confuse it with something illogical?"  
"Like what?"  
"Not this apparently, for it's the most logical weapon ever!"

As Sora and Snake cringed at the awfully familiar awful voice, they suddenly found themselves bopping their heads up and down and moving their bodies in a similar rhythm. "What the Hell is going on?!"

"I don't know, but do you think it has anything to do with that music?" As they strained their hearing, the heroes could hear a strange, yet catchy beat, coming down hard at some points. Looking at GLaDOS, they saw pulsations that looked like sonic waves, accompanied by floating lights that exploded on impact. Looking past it, they found the unfortunate source. "Claptrap?! How did you get here?"

Claptrap rolled into view, holding a peculiar weapon, the source of the sounds and lights. "I got my hands on a teleporter, fair and square! And I also found this cool weapon! It fires Dubstep! This will be great for raves, where I'll get lots of 10+ babes!"

"First this horrible music, then desires for fleshlings? Why would any self-respecting non-organism have such needs?" Realizing that Claptrap was just the illogicalness they needed, Snake worked to move around the music, getting Sora and the others out of the way, then placing something at the edge of the balcony. "What are you putting down?" Snake waited until GLaDOS was pushed back far enough and pulled out a detonator.

"C4."

BOOM!

A small explosion cause cracks to form on the balcony and parts of it to fall. When GLaDOS turned to see what happened, she realized too late the result of her new, heavy, body. "No…...you….you…..yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU!" Without anything clever or sarcastic to say, she just fell down screaming into the abyss below.

"NOOOOOOOOO! I was going to sell that! That's why I came! Well, at least I got this cool new weapon, so I'll just be on my - oof!"

Snake got in front of him, quickly swiping the Dubstep Gun and teleporter. "Funny this appears when Dr. Light reports a theft."

"Whaaaaaat? I had no idea - " Snake landed a quick blow to Claptrap's head, dazing him for a minute.

"I'll get him and Sackboy back to Traverse Town. And restore some stolen property. Good luck for the rest of this world." Sora nodded as they left, regrouping with Sonic and the others. Tails believed they were getting close to the captives, giving Sora some relief. They were getting closer, and the sooner they find their friends, the better.

—

Deep within the Hollow Bastion, Sora and his companions were met with a rather depressing sight. Various prison cells, containing girls, being confused for the maidens that Dracula really needed. It was a relief that Krystal managed to get out of this one, but the sight of those who weren't as lucky to be dropped off, made Sora wish he had his Keyblade on him, so he could free them all.

There was a knight carrying a shield in one cell. Was that the Shield Knight person that Shovel Knight was looking for? Either way, she was unconscious. Next to her was a robotic girl, who also had blonde hair, but she had headphones for ears and wore a tank top. Sora could only assume that they had gotten mixed up for Roll.

Similarly in another cell, appeared to be a blonde girl wearing a magician's attire, though she resembled a witch more than anything. It looked like she had been trying to break out of the prison for hours, and eventually gave up. Next to her, was a shrine maiden that had purple hair, and was laying on the floor, exhausted.

Right next to them, in another cell, were three girls. Two of them had green hair. One wore a green outfit with knee-high golden heeled boots, and draperies adorned in stars. The other had a red dress with a purple sash around her waist, red boots, red wristbands and purple shoulder-pads. The blonde woman with them, wore spiked shoulder-pads over a floor-length white and gold cape, a sleeveless white top. Before Sora could look into any other places, he was interrupted by two squeaky voices.

"Sonic!"  
"Mr. Sonic!"

Sonic and his friends turned their attention to one of the cells, containing a pink hedgehog and a small rabbit. "Amy? Cream?" Sonic was surprised, but relieved to see two of his friends were safe after all, even if imprisoned.

"I knew you would come for us, Sonic!" The pink one, Amy cheered.  
"What are you doing in here?" Tails asked.

"Dr. Eggman brought us here after the world went black!" Cream explained, a small creature hiding behind her. "Blaze was with us too, but she got taken away by a tall, scary man with a cape. Eggman said something about 'it being one of us three', and then the scary man took Blaze out of here! We wanted to stop him, but," Cream then started tearing up, emotionally distressed over what had happened.

Dr. Eggman? Did he know this group?

"We weren't any match for him," Amy admitted.  
"Were there any others, or was it just you three?" Knuckles questioned.  
"Just us. I haven't seen any sign of Big, Rouge, or Shadow."  
"Not even the Chaotix team?"  
"I'm afraid not."

Both Knuckles and Sonic appeared to be let down to hear this, uncertain of what could have happened to two of their friends— or rivals, to some extents. "Amy, Cream, we'll get you out of here, same with the other girls!" Tails declared. "Do you know where the key is to open these doors?"

Amy paused, taking a moment to try and remember what had happened. "Come to think of it, these black creatures were crawling around, but one of the prisoners began using magic to take control of those things, and ended up freeing herself! The only reason that man in the cape wasn't too upset about it, was because he promised her magic power if she decided to guard the prison."

Remembering what happened to Krystal, Sora began explaining to the rest of them. "All of those girls over there, what did Dracula want from them?"

"That's the name of that scary man?" Cream muttered. "We were brought here around the same time they were. Mr. Dracula, is it? He was looking for the maiden of beauty. He yelled at these two grey aliens a lot for picking up 'dead weight' he called it, until he decided to find the girl herself, which ended up being somebody he knew!"

So, the maiden of beauty had magic powers, but Crypto couldn't go off on the description much, and ended up finding several unrelated girls before Dracula took matters into his own hands. That sounded about right, Eggman was lucky to have grabbed three girls, and managed to get the needed one from those three.

"Sonic, I'm really worried about Blaze right now," Amy said, "you have to get us out of here, so we can all see if she's okay!"

It looks like before they could do anything else, they would have to find the one keeping all the girls imprisoned.

—

Dolls were scattered around the room, made to resemble Heartless. Even though right close by, actual White Mushroom and Black Fungus Heartless were trotting around the area, which was covered in playing cards. The White Mushrooms were not all aggressive, but the Black Fungi were, so Knuckles and Sonic took care of those ones first.

Not having the Keyblade was proving to be really rough for Sora, and it got worse when all of the playing cards sprung to life, firing small projectiles around the area. A few homing attacks from Sonic took care of them, slicing the cards in half. Sora though, had to be careful, sneaking around the playing cards and cutting them with his wooden sword.

Once all of the cards and Heartless were gone, only the dolls remained. Sora could hear the sound of someone grumbling, as a floating girl finally made her presence known. "You're overdoing it, can't the group of you be less violent towards the Heartless I'm controlling?" The girl was wearing a pink and white dress, with a blue apron and a matching ribbon in her hair, which was a golden color like her eyes.

"You're controlling these creatures?" Tails asked. "Wait, are you the one that got out?"

"Mhm, Dracula said that if I keep intruders out, he'll grant me with even more powerful magic." Opening a tome that was in her hands, she began reading it. "I already own this grimoire, which contains the ultimate magic, so I used my power to puppeteer those Heartless! In this part of the castle, they follow me."

"So, where's the key to open the prison cells?" Sonic asked.

"I'm not giving that to you!" The girl snapped back. "Even if you tried to force it out of my hands, you would be no match for me."

"Who are you? And why are you siding with the Heartless!?" Sora demanded to know.

"Alice Margatroid, the seven-colored puppeteer," the girl replied, "this grimoire of ultimate magic technique comes from Makai, the demon world! With that and the Heartless, I can only become stronger!" Snapping her fingers, two of the dolls got up, and a new Heartless appeared, it being one that Sora had never seen before.

It was tall, red, and black. It had spindly legs, arms were zigzags made of paper, possibly cards, and a head that was made of several segments, each which had a face. In its hands were clubs, which were juggled around playfully. "This is the Trickmaster, my very own Heartless underling! He's the one that broke me out of my prison, which led to Dracula recognizing my power!"

"No! You can't! That thing will devour your—" Before Sora could try to reason with her, the Trickmaster swung its clubs at Sora, while Alice unleashed a flurry of projectiles, a red glow surrounding her body and a magic sign floating behind her. Of the two, it only made sense to try to take care of the Trickmaster first, so Sora would not have to worry about it eating this girl's heart.

"Right now, I'm only using one-seventh of my power, and it will soon escalate!" Alice laughed.

Only one-seventh? Well, that actually made her less worrisome at least. So long as Sora and the others could avoid her attacks, they could try to focus on the Trickmaster. "Aerora!" Sora cast the wind magic, blowing Alice back and allowing Sora to bash the Trickmaster with his wooden sword. Unfortunately, Sora noticed that he wasn't doing any sort of damage to the Heartless.

"It looks like his legs aren't the weak point, we'll have to try somewhere else!" Tails pointed out.

"Heh, let me see if I can knock his socks off!" Jumping up, Sonic unleashed a homing attack on the Trickmaster. Striking its hands and head didn't produce any results, but once he struck the chest, the Trickmaster winced and fell on its knees, showing a dazed reaction. "Found it, his chest is the weak point!"

"Thanks, Sonic!" Sora said, immediately swinging the wooden sword at the Trickmaster's chest. Knuckles did the same with his fists, while Tails swiped his namesake tails at the boss. By the time the Trickmaster got back up, Alice unleashed magical projectiles at everyone.

"Two-sevenths," Alice muttered, the glow around her turning orange. A wave of fire zipped past Sora and his companions, which they narrowly avoided, except for Sonic who moved too quickly into one of them. He grunted in pain and held his shoulder, before realizing that he should just stand in the middle and carefully avoid Alice's projectiles.

In the process, the Trickmaster held its clubs out, using the waves from Alice's magic to set them on fire. Once it was done doing that, the Heartless began juggling again, almost dancing around before attempting to hit Sora with the flaming clubs. Knuckles latched onto a wall, looking at the Trickmaster, before flying into it with his fists out. It was enough to send the Trickmaster back to its knees, which allowed them all to wail on it until Alice shifted her power.

"Three-sevenths!" The glow was yellow now, and curved lasers of the same color began to pursue Sora and Knuckles. The Trickmaster, irritated with its opponents, began launching fireballs as well.

"We can't close the distance safely with those things on fire, we have to put them out." Tails suggested. "Anyone have ideas?"

It was a bit of a long shot, but maybe Sora's own magic could do the trick. "Blizzara!" Sora called out, launching a powerful blast of ice crystals, which put out the flames. This time, Tails flew up and struck the Trickmaster to the floor, leaving it open to attack a third time. Predictably, the glow around Alice became green, and Sonic had just about enough of her.

"This kid needs to cut out the dangerous stuff already!" Preparing to launch a homing attack on her, Alice was protected by the two Heartless dolls, and she retaliated with a barrage of projectiles coming out of a green sphere. "Dang, even if we wanted to, we can't get to her! We just have to keep fighting that tall creature while avoiding her!

At least this time, the clubs weren't lit. Sora wanted to jump up, but instead, Tails flew him up, holding him by the sides. "Give it to him good, Sora!" Tails exclaimed, as they got closer to the Trickmaster. Driving the wooden sword into its chest, the Trickmaster seized up and fell to the floor again, and Sora didn't let up. Alice huffed in annoyance, flipping the pages of her grimoire, baffled that this small group was dodging more than half of her "ultimate magic".

"Let's see how you handle this!" The glow around her was now a light blue, and Alice unleashed a harsh snowfall upon Sora. The dangerous snowflakes were slow enough, but their movements were a little unpredictable.

Fira!" Launching a fireball at the snowflakes melted them immediately, leaving behind only a blue light which fizzled out. However, the Trickmaster took advantage of the fiery spell, holding its clubs out so they would catch fire. Sadly for the Trickmaster, it didn't last, as Alice's own blue, icy magic ended up putting the clubs out again. "At a disadvantage by his own ally, now is our chance!"

This time, Tails flew up and tossed an explosive at the Trickmaster's chest, dealing mightier damage than before. This time, they didn't even have to strike the Trickmaster while it was down, since the bomb that Tails threw had done enough on its own. The glow on Alice became a darker shade of blue— indigo to be precise— which made the snowflakes stop.

Slowly, Alice unleashed a flurry of ice crystals all around the room, which ricocheted off the walls and approached the heroes. To destroy them, Sora used more fire magic, but was now finding himself low on it. "Someone take over against the Trickmaster for me really quick, I need to recover my power!" Sora requested, taking out an elixir to use on himself.

"Uh, I don't think we have to," Knuckles pointed out, "it stopped moving, is it dead now or something?"

"I think we just need to wait this one out," Tails said. With that in mind, they all just focused on narrowly avoiding all of the ice crystals that were flung around the room. Sora managed to melt some of them, and Knuckles shattered them with his fists. Eventually though, all of the crystal projectiles shattered, leaving Alice to be amused.

"You managed to get through six of the seven colors, how impressive. But can you handle violet?" The glow around her became just that, and to make matters worse, it surrounded the Trickmaster too, making its black colors turn purple. "Rise, Trickmaster! We got one shot left at this! Are you ready?"

The Trickmaster lit the clubs once more, but with a purple flame on them this time. Jumping around more aggressively, it launched fireballs at the group, and much to Sora's surprise, he wasn't able to use ice magic to put them out like before. Knuckles tried to hold onto Sonic and launch him at the Trickmaster, but the fiery clubs blocked him off before he could strike the chest. "It isn't any good— gah!" Knuckles jumped over a violet laser, which was pointed in his direction, coming from Alice.

The laser then began firing in various directions as a fast speed. Sora had to think quickly, before the Trickmaster and Alice could take them all down. "Gravira!" Using the small, blast of an event horizon, the Trickmaster's chest was crushed, and he toppled over. There was barely any stamina left to keep him going, but Sora didn't want to risk it. Running from the lasers that tailed him in a circle, Sora struck the Trickmaster with the wooden sword, forcing it to stand up straight and stiffen. After a few seconds, the purple color faded from its body, and it collapsed back to the floor, twitching.

"What!?" Alice gasped, as the Trickmaster soon fell over on its back, in a failed attempt to try and get back up. The arms made of paper flopped onto the floor, a heart came out of its body, and the Trickmaster started to disappear. "No! This can't be right! You defeated the Trickmaster, even when he had me on his side!?" Irritated, Alice flipped through more pages in the grimoire. "Right then! I'll just sweep you all away, whether I'm using Heartless or not!"

Finally, the glow around her began changing to all sorts of colors. Alice immediately began firing arrow-like projectiles made of light, which were fast and difficult to predict. Sora and the party were taking damage almost immediately, which made them panic. "What do we do now!?" Knuckles grunted. "There's no way any of us can get a hit, she's gonna keep protecting herself with those dolls!"

That was when Sora finally saw it, at the corner of his eye. Pokéballs, stuffed in a corner near the scattered cards. He knew he wouldn't be fast enough to dodge all of those, but Sonic on the other hand, could. "Sonic! I need you to run over there, and bring those spheres over there to me!" Sora yelled to him.

"Huh? Listen, usually the thing I do is avoid the red spheres—"  
"Trust me on this!"  
"Okay then, it sounds weird, but whatever could help us!"

Jumping and then launching himself over the projectiles, Sonic ran to the corner, with no time wasted. He chucked one of the balls at Sora, not knowing what could be inside. Sora didn't have any time to look at it either, as he tossed it in Alice's direction.

Out came a small, brown fox with long ears and white fur around its neck. "Vee!" It cried out, giving Alice a cute look.

"Aw," Alice stopped for a moment, "where did you come from— hey!" Using its cute appearance to deceit her, the small fox attacked Alice, and yanked the Heartless dolls away from her, holding onto them with its mouth. "Thief! Why, I despise people who want to steal my magical belongings!" Pouting, Alice's laser fire became faster, but at the very least, she was defenseless now, which was enough for them all to take advantage of.

Sonic unleashed another homing attack, this time on Alice herself, who was knocked to the floor. Sora used his wooden sword to knock the grimoire from her hands, Tails held onto it, while Knuckles grabbed her by her hair. "Ow! Let me go, that hurts!" Alice cried. "Give me back my grimoire of ultimate magic!"

"Not until you give us the key to the prison, and stop using the Heartless with your magic!" Sora demanded. "Those things will eat your heart out if you get greedy with power and stop caring about anything else, don't you know that?"

"But," Alice stammered, "since I have power over them, that won't happen, right?"

"Say that to the last person who controlled them! They became completely blank!" Alice froze up as Sora said that to her. "Dracula is using you, because he knows that you'll become one of them at some point, magic power or not! Is that something you want?" Alice hesitated, glancing at the grimoire a few times. "Look, I know this is harsh, but you'll be a better magician if you don't get anywhere near Heartless stuff. Why not use the power that's in your heart?"

"Power in my heart?" She stammered, thinking about it. Indeed, it was her own determined power within her that got her so strong, before she even laid hands on that grimoire. That combined with Alice's heart, is what had made her so powerful before. Now though, she was kind of weakening. "Okay," she finally said, "I think, I understand. And just to show that I'm serious." Reaching into her dress pocket, she took out a strange looking key, which had a handle that resembled a heart.

Knuckles finally put her down, and when Alice handed over the key, Tails gave her the grimoire back. "Before you go," Alice dug through her pocket again, taking out a red-orange jewel. "This here has great, magical prowess. Dracula said I could hold onto it, since I wanted it. But I don't want it anymore, I just wanna get away from this place." After she left Sora with the jewel, she exited the room, unlikely to bother him again.

The last gem, which contained the remaining lost soul. Sora prayed he would get out of here alive, just so he could free whoever this person was. "Vee!" Startled so suddenly, Sora looked at the brown fox, which hadn't been returned to its Pokéball.

"Oh, right." Scanning the Pokémon and the other two Pokéballs, Sora got confirmation on what they were. Eevee was what the fox was called. The other two were Shaymin, a hedgehog-like Pokémon, and Lopunny, which resembled a rabbit. A quick glance at the Pokédex entry for Eevee and a look at its moves told Sora that it had a move known as "Covet", which is why the Eevee was able to take away Alice's dolls earlier.

Hey Sonic, wait up! Sora is the one with the key!" Tails called out, as Sonic zipped back over to the prison area. Sora quickly put the Eevee back into its Pokéball, and followed the others, hoping to release the prisoners now.

—

Returning to the prison cells was no struggle at all. Using the key from Alice, Sora released Amy and Cream from their containment first. The first thing Amy did upon being release was latch onto Sonic, hugging him. "Oh, I knew you would free us, Sonic! I just knew it!" She cheered, while Sonic attempted to remove her, clearly annoyed by the affection.

Next, Sora unlocked the cell containing Shield Knight and the robotic girl. Stirring awake finally, Shield Knight looked up at Sora, her head feeling fuzzy. She didn't say a word, as Sora held out his hand. "It's okay, you'll be meeting Shovel Knight again soon." While helping her off the floor, Knuckles did the same for the robotic girl, who was still unconscious.

"Alright, here's the plan," Sonic explained. "Knuckles, Tails, Cream, Amy, all of you get these girls out of here, and take them someplace safe outside of this palace! I'm going to try to find Blaze—"

"No way!" Amy objected. "Sonic, I'm going with you!"  
"Wha? But Amy—"  
"Me too, and so is Cheese!" Cream added.  
"Chao!" Said the small creature named Cheese.

"Sonic, I'm not going anywhere until I find Blaze, and I don't plan on losing you either!" Amy explained, taking out a large mallet from seemingly nowhere. "The man that took away Blaze, I'm going to give him what for!" Surprised by how assertive she was being on something that didn't involve getting Sonic to love her, the hedgehog was speechless.

After a few seconds, Sonic shrugged. "Alright then Amy," he laughed, "I guess there's no use in stopping you. Tails, Knuckles, do you have any objections?" The other two shook their heads, completely content with being in charge of the imprisoned girls. Once Sora opened the cell for the magician and the shrine maiden, they woke up immediately, and the former instantly began complaining.

"Finally getting out of here," she grumbled, "where's that other magician from earlier? We should give her a thing or two for leaving us in the dust!" Sora then released the last batch of prisoners, who didn't wake up right away.

The most that could be done was to leave them to Tails and Knuckles, while Sora continued his search for Riku, with Sonic, Amy, and Cream by his side.

—

Maria Renard; the maiden of beauty…

It was such a difficult, and annoying task to locate her. Crypto and Pox could not find the right girl at all, and when Dracula tried to find who the maiden of beauty really was, he realized it was someone he had known this whole time.

Roll Light; the maiden of artificial emotion…

Once again, Crypto and Pox made fools of themselves, but eventually, the correct girl was captured. Fascinating, for a robot to have a heart with no darkness.

Blaze the Cat; the maiden of courage…

It was Eggman who brought her forth, even though he brought in two extras, he made a much better effort than Crypto and Pox did. Dracula would have never found her without him, even if Eggman was rather useless.

Keira Hagai; the maiden of nature…

A rather simple one, for there were few maidens who were the daughter of a sage, who could use the eco of nature to communicate with plants. Watching Kor fall to the Heartless is what directed Dracula's attention to her.

Princess Zelda; the maiden of wisdom…

It was Ganondorf who made her existence known to Dracula, for she held the Triforce of Wisdom. Ganondorf was admirable, but caught in his own desires. It ended up being Riku who brought Zelda to him, since Ganondorf's needs got the better of him.

Carmelita Fox; the maiden of determination…

Riku was able to direct Crypto and Pox to where she was with little issue, and thankfully, Dracula was unaware of the dead weight they had nearly picked up by accident. If not for Riku, Carmelita could have been taken away from Dracula by Sora and his allies.

They were all here, sealed behind barriers, while Kairi was in the middle of it all.

"O, purest of hearts," Dracula started, raising his arms. "Reveal to me, the keyhole!" After he said that, beams of light came out of the chests from the six girls, the lights colliding in the center, just above where Kairi was. The beam then directed itself at a heart-shaped hole.

Soon, everything would fall into place, and darkness would be unleashed.

—

The amount of Heartless throughout Hollow Bastion increased ever since Sora freed the prisoners. Thankfully though, Amy and Cream proved to be just as capable in a fight as Tails and Knuckles were. Amy was rather acrobatic, and the strikes from her hammer really packed a punch. Cream meanwhile, mainly relied on Cheese for combat, and despite his size, the Chao was quite the powerhouse.

Because of that, the Heartless were a bit of a breeze, up until Sora and company reached a pair of staircases, which led to the same, large door. Gothic architecture was all around, giving Cream the chills. "Be on your guard, Cream," Amy said, "something is close, I can just feel it!" Holding up her hammer, Amy looked around the room with Sonic. Cheese though, pulled on Cream's dress, pointing at the door they came from.

"Chao, chao!"

"What's wrong, Cheese?" Cream turned around, and her eyes widened, seeing Blaze standing in the door. "Blaze?" Amy and Sonic snapped their attention to the door when Cream said that, noticing the purple feline standing inside. However, a dark aura shrouded Blaze's body, making her vanish. In Blaze's place, was a small Heartless, taunting them. Angered, Cream and Cheese couldn't help but chase after the Heartless. "You mean cowards! Give Blaze back to us!" She cried out, running past the door.

"Cream, no, wait!" Sonic called out, going after her. Amy did the same, wanting both Cream and Blaze to return safely, but when they all left, the door closed behind them, leaving Sora alone.

"Quit while you can."

Sora turned his attention to Riku, who had been standing in front of him the entire time. By his side were Toad and Luigi. Clenching his fists, Sora began gritting his teeth. "No, not without Kairi!" Sora retorted.  
A dark suit of some kind materialized over Riku's body. A red and black keyhole shaped symbol was on his chest. The material completely covered his skin, resembling muscles, and a white cloth was now around his waist. "The darkness will destroy you," he said.

"You're wrong, Riku. The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart." Sora explained. "My heart will stay with my friends, it'll never die!"

"Really," Riku scoffed, "well, we'll just see about that!" Raising his arm forward, Riku launched a blast of dark energy. It came to Sora at such a ridiculous speed, even if he tried to move, there was no telling if he would completely avoid it.

Gasping, Sora blinked, just for a moment, a mistake which made him know that the worst would be coming.

"NO!"

Sora's eyes shot open when he saw Toad standing in front of him, having jumped up, taking the blast with his shields. "Sora won't be going anywhere!" He shouted.

"You would betray your friend?" Riku questioned, glaring at Toad.

"No way! It's not like like that, it's just," Toad's façade couldn't stay up for much longer, as he began tearing up. "I can't betray Sora either! He's become one of my best friends, after all we've been through. I just can't let you do that to him, and leaving him behind hurt too much! He forgave me, when I was nothing but a huge jerk to him at one point, and we've been looking out for each other since." He cried, continuing to sob through his words. "Luigi, I hate to say it, but, tell Mario I'm sorry! I want to stay by Sora's side, no matter what!"

Luigi just stared on, looking at Toad and Sora.

Should he continue the search for his brother, who had been missing? Especially when Mario had specifically asked to follow the one who was holding the key?

Or should he stay with Sora and Toad, who helped him fight, and gave him the courage to fight the leader of that ghastly army? For so long, Luigi had been relying on his brother, as well as others, because they supported him. Was it right to repay Sora in this way?

No. It wasn't, and Luigi knew it. Mario would have been disappointed if Luigi just left Sora behind, and Luigi would be angry at himself too.

"We'll tell him together! All for one," Luigi started, stepping away from Riku to rejoin the group. "And one for all!"

Laughing, Toad looked up at Sora and smiled. "Looks like you're still stuck with us, Sora."

"Thank you… Luigi, Toad." Sora couldn't help but smile back. Even if the situation was rather dire, he still had his friends, and that was what mattered.

"How will you fight without a weapon!?" Riku questioned.  
"I know now, that I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon; my heart!"  
"Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience, it's found a home with all the friends I've made."

Sora then recounted everyone on his journey.

Toad, Luigi, and Rosalina…  
Dr. Light and Mega Man…  
Cloud and Tifa…  
Yoshimitsu, Fox and his crew…  
Ratchet and Clank…  
Snake, Otacon, and Raiden…  
Kirby and Meta-Knight…  
Professor Oak, Ash, and Pikachu…  
Jak and Daxter…  
Samus, Marcus Fenix, Tracer…  
Link and Navi…  
Kratos, and the other Mortal Kombat contestants…  
Sackboy, Shovel Knight, Sparkster, and Earthworm Jim…  
Steve, Master Chief, and Abe…  
Sly, Bentley, and Murray…  
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, and Cheese…

There was… one more, besides the soul trapped within the jewel he got from Alice. But who was it? That's right, the voice who encouraged Sora, and told him everything that he needed to know. Whoever this person was, she was in his heart.

"I've become part of their hearts," Sora continued, remembering each and every moment with his friends. "Just as they've become part of mine. If they think about me every now and then, if they don't forget me, then our hearts will be one!" Taking out the wooden sword, Sora got into battle position. "I don't need a weapon, my friends, they're the power I need!"

Riku was absolutely stunned, stupefied at what Sora had to say about all of that. Without warning, the Keyblade vanished from his grasp, returning to its original and rightful owner; Sora.

That did it. Riku had to prove, that he was the rightful owner of the Keyblade, without all of that silly nonsense!

Rushing forward, Riku swung with all his might, only to be parried by Sora. And while Sora was glad to have the Keyblade back, he knew it wasn't going to be an easy battle. Riku's rage made his fighting style a little predictable and easy to read, but said rage was also making his swings faster and harder. So blocking was easy, but every blow made Sora's arms tingle. Toad and Luigi were faring no better. Their magic was able to counter Riku's dark powers, but a stalemate was the best they could do at the moment.

"See? The Keyblade obviously made a mista - uh!" Sora was able to land a blow on Riku, knocking him back a bit. He was surprising dazed for longer than anticipated. It was almost as if his new power was unstable. However, Toad decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and took this chance to land a few more blows. Luigi followed suit, landing a blow to Riku's head by accident. Unfortunately, the blow seemed to knock Riku back to his senses, as he unleashed a pulse of dark energy, sending Toad and Luigi flying and slamming into the wall.

"Some power. You really think you can win?"  
"Yes. And they time they bought was not wasted. While they took advantage to deal some damage, I took advantage to call in some help."  
"Help?"  
"Yes, in the form of me!"

Riku suddenly had to dodge from sudden blaster fire, as Earthworm Jim showed himself. With his long-ranged attacks, he was able to bring the battle to his own pace. Riku was unable to block against both Sora and Jim. Riku needed timing to block Jim's blaster, and Sora's melee attacks were making it hard to see the incoming blasts clearly. The blasts weren't fatal, but they were wearing him down. He knew the tide of this battle can only be turned with a gamble. Concentrating, he sent a blast of darkness straight at Jim, hitting him dead-on. Smiling, and knowing he can now concentrate fully on Sora, he was surprised by a sudden yelp.

"Hey! Mind the suit would ya?" Riku looked down to see that Jim around his feet, his suit laying limp at the far side of the room. With Riku dumbfounded, Jim wasted no time in wrapping his worm body around Riku's legs. "Now Sora, get him!" Remembering he had two opponents, Riku only had enough time to turn to see Sora land his heaviest blow yet straight at Riku's chest.

As Jim crawled back into his suit, Sora watched as Riku's power-up vanished, leaving him weakened. Riku only glanced at Sora, before running off. Sora didn't follow yet, for he knew stopping what was going on was more important. The doors opened again, letting Sonic and the others back in. "So, you were able to win with the bond you have with your friends? I can get that. True heart power right there!" Sora nodded, before making sure Jim was alright before leaving. And with everyone together again, they headed further down the darkened hall.

"Um, Mr. Sora?" Cream chimed in. "I'm sorry for running off like that. I found these while we were separated." Holding out three Pokéballs, Sora gladly thanked Cream and took them into his possession, scanning them really quick.

Greninja, Infernape, and Reshiram. Just how close was Sora to finishing the dex?

—

"Why?" Riku panted, sprinting down the hall. "It was mine!"

He came to a halt, unable to run anymore, running out of breath. His body felt like it was going to give up on him since he had run so far. A voice called out to him, deep, lurking in the halls. "Know this," Riku turned his head to the door that he came out of, seeing a shrouded figure, covered in a blue smoke. "The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade."

"What? You're saying my heart's weaker than his!?" Riku questioned.

"For that instant, it was." Riku threw his arms down in defeat, but the figure wasn't done speaking just yet. "However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness," the voice tempted, "and your heart will grow even stronger."

Hanging his head downwards, Riku closed his eyes. "What should I do?"

"It's really quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness, that is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself." After saying that, a green glow began to surround Riku.

Just what was going to happen next? Should he really go through with such a thing?

It seemed like there weren't many choices left in the matter. Especially not after that.

-

Chapter ends here, and oh boy, Drac is next, I'm excited!


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 12  
Symphony of the Darkness

Dracula looked up at the machinery, remaining still as Riku entered the room, having his dark suit with the muscular material once again. "So, I see the path has emerged at last," Riku spoke, his voice sounding mildly corrupted. Dracula couldn't help but smirk, his eyes fixated on the large, heart-shaped hole, filled with colors, having an electrical spark in the center.

"Yes, the keyhole to the darkness."  
"Unlock it, and the Heartless will overrun this world," Riku warned.

"It is no worry to me at all," Dracula said, "the darkness holds no control over me. This power though, it will be used to rule all worlds, swallowing them in darkness. Humanity and the light of God will fall at long last, for taking away the things which I had loved!"

"Such confidence and fury," Riku snickered, as a dark Keyblade formed in his hands. The Keyblade of Heart, having a black color, with the handle being red. Dracula's eyes widened, as he looked over to both the Keyblade and the keyhole. There was no reaction, which puzzled him.

"The maidens of heart, they are all here, so why is this happening?" Scoffing, Dracula looked over to Kairi's body, which was lying down. "It must be her."

"Without her heart, she will never be able to release her power."

After Riku said that, Dracula raised his head, hearing a noise inside of the castle. "Hm, it seems that the intruders are close to their arrival." Averting his gaze to Riku, who remained where he was, Dracula hummed. "I suppose it is only fair for me to welcome them this time. You have no need to worry, I will take care of them on my own. I must ask of you to watch over the maidens though." With that, Dracula took his leave. As he did so, a blue glow surrounded a smiling Riku.

—

The hallways became darker as Sora entered the last corridor. He was getting the chills as he stared on ahead, looking at the throne which stood at the very end of the room. Candles were lit, a red carpet was rolled out, and a man sat in the throne. The very same man Sora had seen in Hyrule, before he had disappeared, and it was that same man who had imprisoned Amy and Cream. In his hand was a wine glass, which was empty.

"I am afraid that you are too late," Dracula spoke, calm and charismatic as always. "Just about any moment now, the final keyhole will be unsealed, and the world will be plunged into darkness. It will be unstoppable." Amy raised her hammer, while Toad and Sonic got into a battle position, but Sora and Cream didn't move.

"Mr. Dracula," Cream started, "why are you doing all of this?"  
"It can't just be pure evil, you have to have a motive!" Sora added.

There was a long pause, as Dracula lowered his gaze. "Evil is perhaps your view of who I am, but no one in this world is as evil as mankind, who rightfully deserves to have their hearts eaten away."

"What do you mean?" Luigi asked.

"You are really that curious in my personal matters? I shall humor you, since you will perish regardless." Dracula continued. "A long time ago, I was a man who could feel love, and I still do. But humanity, with their darkness in their hearts, took away what I had cherished, burning her alive!" Tightly grasping the wine glass in his fingers, as if he was choking it, Dracula took a minute to calm down. "It is only fair that humanity is eaten by their own selfish needs, their fears, and their anger."

Amy lowered her hammer, horrified and heartbroken at this revelation. "Dracula, tell me this, why are you using Riku? Why have you turned my friend against me!?" Scoffing at Sora, Dracula began chuckling.

"Turning him against you? It is only you who made him turn around, I was only making him see the light. I will admit, I mainly intended on coaxing Riku to my side, but I would be lying if I did not see my own son in him. I despise mankind, but him… he is a curious case. Perhaps he is a mirror to myself, and I did not want him to lose what he cared about the most."

"What about Eggman?" Sonic asked. "What'd you use him for?"

"That fool? He is not important. He was easily swayed by the selfish desire for domination. The same applies to Nefarious and Pox. Shao Kahn is as determined as I am, and has my respect for the warrior that he is. Ganondorf, I can only pity. Being the reincarnation of evil, living in the harsh climate of the desert, he desired the lands of Hyrule. But all of them succumb to their truly selfish nature, just like all of mankind."

"You're wrong!" Sora objected. "Mankind isn't selfish, it doesn't deserve to be eaten by the darkness, you're just taking your anger out on the wrong men!"

"What is a man?" Dracula then tossed his wine glass, making it shatter onto the floor. "A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk," he got up from his throne, "have at you!"

After his speech, Dracula vanished from where he was standing, then reappeared before Sora, launching fireballs from his cape. Toad blocked the fireballs with his shield, while Sonic jumped at Dracula with a homing attack. After being struck, he disappeared again, this time positioned behind Luigi. Before he could launch fireballs at Luigi though, he turned around quickly and put the flames out with ice magic.

The next time he teleported, Amy hit him on the back of the head with her hammer. Infuriated by their insolence, Dracula launch a more powerful attack, which involved meteors made of magma being tossed at the heroes. Amy and Sonic were hit, making Cream gasp. Once he did that, Dracula summoned spherical Heartless to his side, having tendrils protruding from their bodies. The Darkball Heartless lunged at Cream and Cheese, attempting to bite down on them, but they were stopped by Sora, who struck them down with his Keyblade.

Before Sora could hit Dracula with his Keyblade, he vanished once again, making a new kind of Heartless appear. They resembled knights with odd proportions, and had shields with the head of a living beast. The shield began spewing a freezing breath at its foes, which froze Toad in place. "We'll take care of these things!" Cream said, as Cheese tried to wail his power against the Defenders. Luigi attempted to thaw Toad out with fire, which left Sora to Dracula at that moment. Sonic joined in, delivering a swift kick to Dracula's knees, while Sora cast Gravira on him.

"Enough of this!" Dracula shouted, his body shining with a brilliant light. "Playtime is over, behold my spirit!" As everyone was blinded at that moment, Dracula went through a horrible transformation, turning into a giant, muscular, horned beast, with wings and a tail. He immediately began launching fireballs from his jaws, but unfortunately, the increase of his size led to Dracula being more open to attack. Cream and Cheese managed to get rid of the Defender Heartless, but soon Dracula spawned both Defender and Darkball Heartless again.

He must have been intentionally distracting the others, he didn't care about Sonic and his friends, but Sora had been a thorn in the side for quite some time. If Dracula could simply dispose of Sora, the others would prove to be no issue, and then the rest of his plan could move along smoothly. "Demonic Megiddo!" Dracula shouted, as a large explosion was created. Despite their best efforts, Sora and Amy ended up being caught in the explosion, as was Luigi. By this time, Toad had thawed out, so he hurried to heal Luigi, while Cream used her own healing abilities on Sora and Amy.

"Sonic Wind!" Sonic shouted, creating a powerful wind to trap the Heartless.

"I've had just about it up to here with this guy!" Amy then prepared a special attack of her own. "Just wait a minute!"

Without much warning, Dracula was frozen in place by a pink glow. "What is this madness!?" He hissed. "You, you little pink thing, you can freeze time!?" She didn't even give Dracula an answer as Amy began swinging her hammer around, joining Sora in on trying to finish him off.

Give… Blaze… back to us!" Amy demanded, as within the short span of time Dracula was frozen, Sora wailed in with all his might. Sonic stopped focusing on the Heartless, which were disposed of to bounce on Dracula's body multiple times. Luigi began casting his thunder magic on Dracula, and finally, once Cream and Toad were done healing the party, they attacked as well.

Eventually, Dracula's body finally gave out, unable to handle the attacks coming from all sides. "No! This cannot be!" He screamed as his demonic form began combusting, slowly turning back to his original self. Clutching his chest, Dracula hissed at the group, backing away from them. "Let it be known, you only won with your numbers, and it shall not happen again!"

"You're not getting away from us!" Sora shouted, lunging at Dracula with his Keyblade. The moment he did though, Dracula began to fade away into the darkness, disappearing into a void. "Darn it!"

"Hey hey, let's not stop now!" Sonic exclaimed. "Let's follow him!"

—

Staggering out of the void, Dracula continued clutching his chest. How could this be? Someone that wasn't a Belmont, had managed to push him to his limits? No doubt it was because of the weapon that Sora was wielding, acting almost like a sort of holy item. "Haa," he gasped in pain, attempting to stagger away. "I will not be," Dracula coughed, "defeated by a mortal boy and his band of—!" He panted again, kneeling over in pain, wiping the blood off of his mouth.

At that very moment, appearing from a void, was Riku, his voice sounding even deeper than it had previously. "Do you need some help?" He asked, as Dracula remained still, unable to find much strength to move anymore.

"Riku!"

Both Dracula and Riku slowly turned their attention to the group.

"Is that—"

"Yes," Riku cut Luigi off, "a Keyblade. But unlike yours, this Keyblade has the power to unlock people's hearts."

Slowly regaining the strength he needed, Dracula chuckled, attempting to speak in spite of his injuries. "Riku, my boy," Dracula said with a smile, "you are going to show them all what this power holds, I'm assuming?" A wave of relief was hitting Dracula, as he knew that Riku would no doubt defend him from this vile human.

"Yes. Allow me to demonstrate…"

There was little warning time for what Riku did next. He turned around so fast, that not even Sonic could have stopped him.

"Behold!"

The entire group gasped as Riku impaled Dracula with the Keyblade, directly through the chest.

"Wh—" Dracula gasped, spitting out more blood. "Riku!?"

"Open your heart, surrender to the darkness!" Riku demanded, with an evil look in his eyes as the aura of darkness from the Keyblade began spreading through Dracula's body. "Become darkness itself!" After a good minute, Riku pulled the Keyblade out, while Dracula's eyes became rather blank.

He began laughing to himself. "This, is true power. Well met, my son!" Dracula's cape then began transforming into something monstrous. "Behold, my true form from the darkness, and despair!" Dracula shouted, his voice becoming distorted much like the appearance of his cape.

It had multiple heads which resembled demonic skulls, giant bat wings, large claws, all making a horrific amalgamation. Riku took his leave, leaving the whole party to Dracula, but before the battle could start, Sora was met with a surprise.

"Hold on, wait for us!" Tails yelled.  
"Tails? Knuckles!?" Sonic exclaimed. "What about the girls?"  
"We already got them outside, they're safe for now." Knuckles explained.  
"Well, you sure showed up at a good time!" Toad yelped.

This was definitely a battle where they would need the large party! Sora and Luigi started by casting fire magic, hoping to burn parts of the cape if it was possible. Sonic could tell that the main weak point would just be Dracula's body, and not any part of his cape, so he and Knuckles primarily aimed for that. Something caught Tails attention, which led to him straying off, while Toad and Cream mainly tried to lend support.

Dracula started by attempting to swat at his enemies with both of the giant claws, successfully hitting Toad and Knuckles. "Don't get too close to his-a hands!" Luigi warned them. Cautiously, Sora swung his Keyblade at Dracula's body, but was careful to avoid his next attack. Making a demon appear between the hands, Dracula crushed it into a bloody mess, hoping he caught Sora in the process. Unfortunately, Dracula had missed, and paid the price dearly for it, as Sora continued stabbing at him with the Keyblade.

Pulling himself away from the group, Dracula began using dark magic to conjure a dark sphere of energy. "Dodge!" Sonic shouted, as the sphere was launched in Sora's direction. Moving away from the large blast, Sora managed to avoid it, just narrowly. Returning to face the heroes up close and personal, the many skulls lunged out, attempting to bite the party members. From afar, Luigi cast Gravira, trying to do damage from a safe distance.

The heads then stretched out, making a triangle of energy form. Several prismatic triangles were fired in Sora's direction, but Toad used his shields, attempting to take the hit until they became too much to handle. "I'm sorry, Sora! This is the most I can do!" However, Sora just looked at him and smiled, healing Toad with a potion.

"It was more than enough!" After that, Sora jumped at Dracula, swinging the Keyblade at Dracula's form, managing to get out of the way when the vampire tried to crush him with the oversized claws. Once he moved away from Dracula, Sora noticed Tails directing his attention to something.

Pokéballs, three of them, per usual. Taking the chance, Sora chucked one of the Pokéballs, releasing the large, serpentine dragon that was inside. Gasping at the enormous size of it, Sora quickly scanned it.

Rayquaza, the Sky High Pokémon, which knew a powerful move known as Outrage. And that was the exact move it used against Dracula, thrashing its gigantic body at Dracula while engulfed in flames. Although Dracula attempted to get some distance while unleashing another ball of energy, Rayquaza kept closing the distance, and was met with the dark energy at point blank.

Crying out in pain, Rayquaza began to use its Dragon Pulse attack, unleashing its own powerful energy attack at Dracula. However, just as it hit him, the skulls lunged at Rayquaza, sinking their teeth into the dragon. Trying to form a triangular shape, they launched a beam at Rayquaza, sending it down for good.

"Rayquaza," Sora muttered, making the Pokémon return to the Pokéball. "You did good." He then scanned the remaining two quickly, which were Dragonite and Garchomp. The triangular beams were coming at Sora again, but just before they could hit him, time had frozen just like earlier.

"No," Dracula muttered, anger seething within him. "Not again!"

"Stand still!" Jumping over all of the beams, Amy struck Dracula with her hammer. Knuckles followed up by landing his fiery fists into Dracula's gut, while Tails began tossing bombs. After thirty seconds, it wore off though, which led to Dracula swiping Amy and Tails away with his claws. Knuckles managed to dig under the ground to evade the attack. Cream pulled them aside, trying to heal them.  
Now was the chance to deal the final blow, just before Dracula could attempt to launch another ball of energy, Sora ran towards him. Raising the Keyblade high, Sora drove it into the same spot where Riku drove his Keyblade. The attempt to release the dark energy ceased, as Dracula began losing power.

"How?" Dracula panted. "How is it that I have been so defeated!?" The mutations from the cape began dissolving, along with the rest of the cape. Falling to the ground, Dracula's consciousness began slipping, finally succumbing to his injuries. Reappearing once again, Riku looked over Dracula's body, amused by his circumstances.

"Riku," Dracula quietly muttered, "help me, as I had help you"

Instead though, Riku just smiled at him. "How ironic, you're able to still trust a human of all people to help you? After what you've wanted to do to humanity? You still feel love for the woman you lost?"

"What? Riku—"  
"You are nothing but a puppet."

Walking away into another void, Riku was gone, leaving the unconscious Dracula behind and betrayed. Although Sora wasn't exactly fond of Dracula for what he had done, he couldn't help but be more angry at Riku for abandoning him all of the sudden.

What had gotten into him?

—

Following any path that looked it went deeper, Sora and company marched forward, taking down any Heartless in the way. When they finally reached a large door and opened it, they were greeted by a strange machine in the distance. It looked like an opening in the shape of the Heartless symbol, filled with strange colors. Reaching the top the nearby stairs, Toad and Luigi were taken by surprise to see Sonic and the others repelled by an invisible barrier. Sora, however, had his attention grabbed by the lying figure on the floor. "Kairi!" Running to her and picking her up, Sora gently shook her. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use." Sora turned to see Riku sitting on top of the strange structure. "That girl has lost her heart, She cannot wake up."

Sora slowly stood up. "What?...You, you're not Riku."

Riku slid off, floating gently to the ground. "The Keyhole cannot be completed, so long as the last Maiden still sleeps."

"The Maiden….Kairi's a Maiden?!"  
"Yes…. And without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."  
"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"  
"But first, you must give the Maiden back her Heart!"

Sora felt a sudden shock in his chest, making him fall to his knees. Toad and Luigi quickly came to his side. "What's - "

"Don't you see yet? The Maiden's heat is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"  
"Kairi….Kairi's inside me?"  
"I know all that there is to know."  
"Tell me. Who are you?"  
"It is I, Ansem. The Seeker of Darkness!"

His true colors soon, Ansem walked towards Sora. Toad and Luigi ran forward, only to be knocked back to the other side of the barrier, leaving them trapped with Sonic's crew. He pointed his Keyblade right at Sora. "So, I shall release you now, maiden. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!" He swung his Keyblade down, ready for the final blow. But before the blow connected, Sora heard Kairi call out for him, making him draw out his Keyblade and block the attack.

"Forget it." Parrying the attack, he got into a battle stance. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

The battle started immediately. Sora and Ansem traded blows fast the entire scene was a blur. But after a few minutes, one side was clearly getting the edge. Sora's emotional state over all the revelations that happened resulted in his heart not fully being in the match. And a small part of him still felt like he was fighting Riku, unconsciously holding him back a little. Ansem took full advantage of that, landing a heavy blow that flung Sora into the barrier, knocking the wind out of him. "Now, when you're down, the Maiden shall be freed!" He lunged forward, Keyblade pointed straight ahead, ready to impale Sora full-force.

CLANG!

Ansem was knocked back, his arm shaking a bit from whatever blocked him. Sora looked up to see Cloud standing up above him, holding a big, wide sword. "Toad called and told us the situation. That's when I knew I could no longer stay idle. Especially when I heard who you were fighting." He pointed his blade at Ansem. "We all believed in you. To see you to have fallen like this, it sickens me."

"So, you're going to go against your leader? To help this boy?"  
"No, we're going to help him!"

Ansem quickly moved at the sound of that, barely dodging a punch from Tifa that cracked the floor. Sora was surprised to see her, but not as surprised to see the rest of the faces that appeared. "But how? The teleporter could only do one person only!"

"Some of us got our own teleporters, remember?"  
"And you didn't think that with all this time. Dr. Light wouldn't try an upgrade?"

Sora could not believe it. Everyone he saved and met in Traverse Town was here to give him help. A total headcount revealed Mega Man, Marcus Fenix, Tracer, Sparkster, Ash and Pikachu, Fox, Ratchet and Clank, Snake, Raiden, Yoshimitsu, Samus, Sackboy, Shovel Knight, Earthworm Jim, and even Claptrap and Rosalina. As they all charged forward, Sora stopped Claptrap while Rosalina stayed behind. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Claptrap pointed his somehow-reclaimed Dubstep Gun at Ansem. "I miss my world and more importantly, my buddies! AND I WANT THEM BACK!" The Dubstep Gun roared with its destructive beats, striking Ansem head-on. Sora still felt a slight headbanging, but it appeared to not be impairing to him. Deducing the Gun was refined to its target, he prepared to charge forward when Rosalina stopped.

"The reason I am here is that I heard you found one final gem?"

"Oh right." Sora pulled it out. Rosalina waved her wand, making the gem glow, revealing a girl in blue armor and red hair, with a strange creature on her shoulder.

"What's going on? Who are you?"

"We're friends, and we could use your help. And believe it or not, this is the battle that can bring back everyone's home."

The girl turned to look at Ansem. "I believe you. This guy's energy is the same as the ones who destroyed my home. Now's the perfect time for payback. My name's Arle, by the way. This is Carbuncle." She pointed to the creature on her shoulder.

"Sora. And come on. We need to take him down quickly before - " He was interrupted by Sparkster and Shovel Knight flew above them, hitting the barrier behind them.

"Are you two okay?" Mega Man came running towards them, relieved to see that their armor protected them.

"I was about to fly us to safety, but the barrier threw off my timing."  
"And it's keeping us out of the action!" Remembering the others, Sora turned the four warriors with him.  
"Can you try to break this?"  
"Maybe, with my blaster at full charge." Mega Man replied. "But I'll need some help."  
"I can blast it, too."  
"My magic can help."  
"I shall assist you with my shovel."  
"And I'll try to shred it with my spines."

A plan made, they took their positions at an opening on the stairs. Sonic started by revving up his spin move, rolling head-on into a certain spot. Keeping on the pressure, Shovel Knight hit that same exact spot repeatedly with his shovel, Arle helping with a constant beam of magic. Meanwhile, Mega Man and Sparkster were charging their blasters until they nearly burst, keeping steady aim. "Clear!"

The other three jumped out of the way, allowing a huge double-beam to hit the barrier with all its might. After a few seconds, noticeable cracks appeared on the barrier, leading to it completely shattering. As Sora reunited with Luigi and Toad, Sonic ran up to the others. "Hey, that wasn't half bad. Way to go Team Blue!"

"Team Blue?" Arle raised an eyebrow.  
"Interesting name….." Shovel Knight pondered.  
"I kind of like it!" Sparkster cheered.  
"Well I don't. But not as much as I don't like you."

Everyone turned to Ansem's voice, realizing that breaking the barrier would have gained his attention. But what scared them was the lack of damage on Ansem's form. And what was scarier was that the heroes battling him had no damage either. It became clear that he was just toying with them, parrying their attacks with little effort. But his attention was quickly grabbed by more annoyances making a rather noisy entrance. "Now, while his guard is down!" Marcus Fenix charged chainsaw-gun first, closing in on Ansem.

"ENOUGH!" Ansem let loose a dark pulse, blowing everyone away. "It appears you finally gave a reason to bother with you. But my priority still lies with the final maiden. But you can deal some familiar friends."

"Familiar?" Sora didn't like where this was heading.

"Yes. Do you remember the 'playmates' you had when facing Shao Khan and Dr. Nefarious?" Sora reeeeeeeeeeeeaaaally didn't like where this was going. "Allow me to introduce some more of them." Ansem opened up three huge dark portals, revealing three inhuman forms. One was a gorilla the size of a small house, rage flaring in its eyes. Another was a similarly sized praying mantis, but with a hungry look in his. But creepiest of all was a gigantic eyeball, enclosed in a humanoid form of electricity. "Meet Congor, Preytor, and Kineticlops. Or as you will know them, your doom."

Congor let loose a loud roar that shook everyone, signaling their cue to scatter. Luckily, Sonic was out of the way of the roar, and charged right towards Congor.

"Team Blue, let's go!" Sonic announced.  
"Who made him the leader?" Arle wondered.  
"We'll discuss it later, after we beat it!" Mega Man commented.  
"We're coming too!" Amy added, with Knuckles by her side.  
"You go with them, I'll go help the group over there!" Tails declared.  
"Then I'll go help that group!"  
"Good luck Cream!"

As everyone regrouped and split up, four teams were made. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Arle, Mega Man, Sparkster, Shovel Knight, and Tifa went for Congor. Marcus Fenix, Samus, Earthworm Jim, Ratchet and Clank, Yoshimitsu, Cloud, Sackboy and Cream targeted Preytor. And Snake, Raiden, Claptrap, Ash and Pikachu, Tracer, Fox and Tails engaged Kineticlops. Which left Sora, Toad, Luigi, and Rosalina to engage Ansem.

Sora charged forward, filled with renewed strength at the arrival of his friends. Swinging with all his might, he forced Ansem on the defensive, unable to fully counterattack. Luigi and Toad came in from the sides, trapping him in a pincer movement. Ansem jumped up to avoid it, and fired a dark blast at the trio. Before it hit though, it was nullified by a quick flash of light. He turned to see Rosalina with her wand. "I may not much use in combat, but darkness will not harm them while I am here!" Ansem began to curse the situation. Being on the ground was bad enough with three unyielding opponents, but in the air he was vulnerable to the sorceress's accursed light.

Returning to the ground, he instantly put up a defense that the heroes had a tough time breaking through. He was leaving no openings, and was slowing analyzing their fighting styles as the battle progressed. His dangerous intellect was picking it up fast, and he almost found all of Sora's openings when a sudden shockwave shook the floor, knocking all of them off balance.

Ansem was shaken up the most due to focusing so hard, leaving him wide open for Toad to bash him with his shield. With him knocked back, Sora took full advantage to land more blows. Unfortunately, Toad's attack helped Ansem regain his senses, which allowed him to block Sora's attacks and move around them, changing tactics. "I will break your spirit!" Keeping his momentum, he went straight for Luigi, with the intent to kill. Even, if he tried to dodge, it would too late.

That is what he thought, but fate had other plans. A weird, green, goo-like puddle was formed under Luigi's feet, and when turned, he slipped. He fell with such speed that the dark Keyblade ended up going over him, missing by a hair's width. "What?! This is - that accursed insect - uh!" Getting hit again from behind, he stumbled forward, barely able to bring his guard back up. The best he could do was generate a dark pulse to blow them back a bit. It was quickly nullified by Rosalina, but it bought him the seconds he needed to regain his composure.

Catching their breath, the trio tried to think of a new strategy. "Can't we do anything?"  
"Our only might be in a combined attack."  
"But where are going to get that kind of opening?"  
"We make one."  
"Let's-a do it quick, alright?"  
"I won't let you. Don't underestimate my ears."

Ansem charged forward. The trio raised their weapons to defend, hoping they could deal the finisher soon.

BRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

An intense flash of electricity flared up from behind Sora and the others. Ansem, being in front of it, was instantly blinded, unable to see, and weakened due to the intense light. Sora and the others had the light behind them, so they could still see a bit. "There's our opening, go!" Charging forward, they hit Ansem Head-on, while Rosalina delivered a light blast from behind.

The resulting damage was enough to make Ansem drop his Keyblade, finally in defeat. All he could muster was a quick teleport away. "Riku!" Sora tried to get his friend, only to see him vanish before his eyes.

"All right! We won! We w-" Toad stopped abruptly when he looked around at those who were fighting the monsters. The Congor group was victorious, but Knuckles and Tifa's arms looked severely damaged. Luigi gasped when saw the Preytor group victorious, but at the cost of Samus's armor and Cloud's sword. And Sora, fearing the worst, turned to the Kineticlops group. He saw a badly damaged eyeball, lying next to Claptrap's charred body, lying deathly still.

"What happened?"

_

Rewind back ten minutes….

"Look out!"

Sparkster swooped in to get Mega Man out of the way. Congor was faster than he looked, and revealed a surprising trick by using his roar like a refined ranged attack. "Thanks. This guy's really tough. I don't want to be on the receiving end of those punches."

"What are you talking about? My punches are tougher!" Knuckles retorted.  
"Yeah, I've got my own pride to defend, too!"

Listening to Tifa and Knuckles gave Sonic an idea. "If you want to prove your strength, I'll give you the chance! Sparkster, Mega Man! Help me guide it!" Landing, they readied their blasters and fired. They got a few lucky shots to Congor's head, dazing him. Trying to see straight again, Congor saw a blue blur that was running around. Enraged at the pest, he kept swinging, missing it by inches. Enjoying toying with the big ape, Sonic turned to Knuckles and Tifa. "OK guys, get ready!" Understanding what he meant, The two brawlers got into position, readying their fists. The feeling of wind from Sonic passing them was the signal. They swung their fists with all their might.

WHAM!  
CRACK!

The mighty simian was somehow repelled, but it was clear that several bones were shattered as the cost. A cost that greatly angered Amy. "That does it! Arle! Give me a boost!" Conjuring a rapidly rising ice column, Arle lifted Amy up to Congor's head, where a mighty swing of her hammer finished the job of knocking him down. On the ground, it was easy to finish the job, courtesy of Shovel Knight, repeatedly jumping on his face to bring him fully unconscious.

Stopping, Sonic realized what he had done. "I…...I'm so sorry."  
"Don't be. We were able to prove we were stronger. And besides, bones can heal."  
"Yeah, we'll be punching again in no time!"  
"While that may be true, what happened over there?"  
Mega Man pointed to the other groups, slowly taking the casualties that happened.

_

Rewind back ten minutes….

"SKREEEEEEEEE!" Sackboy was able to scare Preytor back with a huge bed of hot coal, but the heat went out pretty quick. Earthworm Jim and Ratchet were able to keep the pace with their guns, thankfully. This allowed Marcus and Yoshimitsu to close in and attack the legs. The progress of that was slow. The exoskeleton proved to be stronger than expected. And the attacks would not go unnoticed. Preytor swung his pinchers straight for Marcus, who was wide open.

"LOOK OUT!" Cloud blocked it with his Buster Sword, causing a power struggle between man and insect. Cloud was holding well, when a sudden shockwave shook him off balance, giving Preytor the l

"That's it, I'm ending this now." Samus engaged her helmet, running forward and jumping on one of Preytor's legs, rolling into a ball and launching herself up, near his head. Unrolling, she aimed her blaster's arm. "Eat this - uh!"

She got caught in one of the pinchers, already feeling the pressure through her armor. She tried to wiggle her arm free, but there wasn't enough time. She could only prepare for the worst as the mouth got ill closer…

She began to notice that Preytor was taking his sweet time, and then noticed that everything seemed to be moving slower, like everything was moving through molasses. "That would be me, madam." She turned to see Clank holding on to her shoulder. "Ratchet threw me when you were caught. I can slow down time, but I hold it for much longer, you must escape."

"Sure, just one last thing." Wiggling her arm free, Samus had enough slowed time to fully charge her arm cannon, before slipping out of the armor and floating down thanks to Clank's Heli-Pack. When time went back to normal, the cannon blast went straight through Preytor's head, making it explode and his green blood spill out over the floor. "Nice. Finally beat it."

"Though at a personal cost." Samus was healed quickly by Cream, but lamented the loss of her armor. But greater shock came to her when she turned to see Claptrap's body.

_

Rewind back ten minutes…

Kineticlops was a tricky opponent to handle. Not because of cunning or strength, but because you couldn't touch him without getting shocked. Fox and Pikachu handled most the defense, using their deflectors and natural abilities to block the lightning. Tracer tried blasting it, but her guns didn't much effect. And she couldn't risk using her Chronal Accelerator, as it could short-circuit for exposure. The only one who was having any progress was Claptrap, his Dubstep Gun making Kineticlops stumble and shaken. "Great, another one who doesn't like Dubstep."

"Maybe it's more that the sonic waves are disrupting the frequency of the electric impulses that make up his body." Tails flew in, trying to think of ways to beat Kineticlops. "May if I can- oof!"

A shockwave went throughout the room, knocking Tails down and bumping Claptrap, making him drop the Dubstep Gun. Kineticlops promptly stepped on it, his body causing it to short-circuit. "NOOOOOOOO! WHY?!" Claptrap started to chase Tails around the group.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident!"

"Quiet, you two. This thing still has a weakness." Snake pulled out an anti-tank weapon. "His eye is looking pretty vulnerable right now." But before he could pull the trigger, green slime came flying over the aiming scope, blocking his view. "Damn it, cover me while I clean this!"

As Tails readied to make himself helpful, he noticed that Kineticlops was acting weird. Looking at the ground, he saw the reason why. "The slime must have feel on him, and his body is reacting to it like water!" As if on cue, Kineticlops's body started spewing random electric bolts, zapping everything they hit. One such bolt was heading towards an unknowing Snake.

"Snake? SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" Snake turned to see Claptrap charging at him. Before he could react, Claptrap pushed out of the way, taking the full blast for himself.

"YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!"

The overcharged was so intense that Claptrap's body was burned black. He fell to the side, with Snake crawling toward him. "Why?"

Claptrap was able to sputter out some words. "Because….I need as many people as possible…..to save my ere were still…..some weapons….I wanted to ckering to you…" His eye went out, arms falling to the side. Snake could not believe that the self-centered bucket of bolts would actually save someone. And he didn't expect Raiden to have the reaction that he did. Raiden took his sword out, and did a powerful vertical jump, nearly slicing Kineticlops's eye in two. As soon as the damage was dealt, his whole body went out of control. "His entire consciousness must have been centered in the eye! Now we're all going to get fried!"

"Not if we can help it! Pikachu, go!" Tails felt a small thump on his head as Pikachu jumped from his head to the center of the electric maelstrom. Readying himself, he started to absorb the spewing electricity. Amazingly, he was able to absorb it all, leaving only the damaged eyeball. But, unable to hold it, Pikachu sent it all into the sky, creating a bright flash that blinded all that looked at it. When the flash ended, Pikachu was out of breath, but Kineticlops was beaten. Ash picked Pikachu up, heading with the others to mourn their fallen. Ash then turned around and saw Sora, also victorious, but looking around in horror.

"What happened?"

—

"So that's what happened." Sora was resting with everyone else as he was filled in with the situation. Cream and Rosalina were doing their best to heal everyone, but it was obvious that some were already out of it. Tails and Ratchet were doing their best to fix Claptrap, using parts he was able to salvage from Samus's armor.

BRZZT!

"I got a spark, I got a spark! He's not dead yet!" Some were relieved to hear that. But some were more concerned with other things. "Sora, the Keyhole!" Remembering the main mission, Sora went to where the strange device was and pointed the Keyblade at it. But it came to a shock to everyone that the Keyblade did not react. "Why?"

"Didn't he say that the Keyhole was incomplete?"  
"Then how do we make it complete?"  
"Maybe we should-a wake Kairi up?"  
"I think you're right. If we can free her heart, but how?"

Looking around, lost in thought, Sora's eyes caught ahold of Ansem's discarded Keyblade. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts…...I wonder…" Heading towards it, he shocked everyone by picking it up, realizing what he's going to do.

"Sora!"  
"Hold on!"  
"Don't!"  
"We can find another way"  
"There has been enough sacrifices!"

Sora gave one last look at his friends, giving one last smile before turning the Keyblade around and piercing himself with it.

-

(chapter end)


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 13  
Close the Door

A minute dark flash happened from the contact, and the dark Keyblade floated before disappearing, leaving behind six spheres of light, the hearts of the other Maidens. The spheres went flying in one direction, most likely to where the Maidens were being held. Then one last sphere came right of Sora, floating towards Kairi, where it reunited with her body. Instantly waking up, she opened her eyes to see Sora surrounded in a soft glow, falling backwards. There were people running towards him to catch him, but she beat them, moving out of concern, but was too last. Sora turned into bits of light in her hands, scattering in all directions.

The room became very quiet, trying to process what happened. The silence was broken by Marcus hitting the floor with his fist.

"How?! How many more must be sacrificed?" He shouted.  
"But can't we bring him back, like what we're doing with our worlds?" Sparkster suggested.

"That's different. Our worlds were, in a sense, imprisoned." Fox explained. "Sora lost his very heart!"

"Maybe it's still here?" Tracer wondered. "We can try to find it!"

"How would we do that? We'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack!" Earthworm Jim retorted.

"But he can't be gone, he can't be!" Ash cried out.  
"Um, excuse me?"

Everyone nearly jumped when they heard Kairi speak up, being reminded she was there. "I-I don't understand the full situation, but what I do understand is this: Sora has made some true friends, and I'm sure he was happy being with you." Her words rung a tight cord with the heroes, striking them deep.

Shovel Knight walked up to Kairi. "You are right, we owe a great debt to Sora, who freed us and allowed us the chance to fight for our worlds again. And I will honor his will!" Slamming his shovel on the floor, he knelt in front of Kairi. "I pledge myself to protect the one that Sora searched for throughout the worlds, and bring her safely from this place of evil!"

"Th-thank you, but I'm not going anywhere! I'm not leaving without Sora, I won't let him go!"  
"N-neither will-a I! I will not-a abandon him again!" Luigi declared.  
"Same here!" Toad added.  
"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, and so are we!" Ratchet said, with Clank raising his head.

"My blaster hasn't even gotten warm yet!"  
"Can we still fight, though?"  
"I still have one good arm!"  
"And one is all you need to punch!"  
"I may have lost my sword, but I can still fight."  
"It'll be interesting, not having my armor."  
"Then it's settled. We're not leaving without Sora!"

The roar of confidence from the crowd brought a tear to Kairi's eye, glad that there was still hope for her friend. But the mood was interrupted by a disturbing presence. "So nice to see such strong spirits. And at last, you have awakened, princess." A tall man with white stepped out of a dark portal, wearing an outfit that had the Heartless symbol on it. Though they never saw this face before, everyone knew that this was Ansem. "You have fulfilled your purpose. The Keyhole is complete. But I am afraid it's all over."

Stepping forward, he was blocked by Toad. "Don't come any closer!" The other heroes got into position.

"Can we really take him on?" Tails asked, shaking in his shoes.  
"I don't know," Amy replied.

But before any blows could be traded, Ansem suddenly stopped. "Impossible…." Struggling, an image of Riku appear in front of him, holding him back.

"Riku!"  
"Get out of here, the Heartless are coming!"

On cue, Heartless started to appear by the dozens, trying to block the doorway leading out. The heroes knew that they were in no shape for a long fight, and had to run. "We'll be back Riku, I promise!" Riku nodded as Kairi went to help carry the injured. Meanwhile, Marcus was revving up his chainsaw gun.

"All right, I'm taking a point. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Charging forward with all his might, he plowed through the Heartless, leaving little resistance for the others to run. Ansem couldn't move, but he could still laugh at the Heroes' futile attempts to defy him. He would regain control of his body soon, and claim the ultimate power to crush them.

"What about the Keyhole?"  
"Let's-a just get out of here!"

Leaving in a hurry, they failed to notice a small Heartless that didn't appear to have any hostility.

Regrouping in the room where Sora first fought Riku, they started to compare notes. But they were so deep in conversation, that they failed to notice the small Heartless slip between them and appear before Kairi. Kairi gave a small yelp, prompting Toad to smack the Heartless repeatedly on the head. "Stupid Heartless! Go away already!"

The Heartless just stood there though, looking at Kairi. "Sora? Is that you?" The Heartless just looked on. Some of the heroes did take notes of the lack of hostility, but others weren't so sure. Before any debate could begin, more Heartless appeared, surrounding them. And these ones looked ready for a fight.

The heroes instantly charged, destroying as many as possible. Kairi turned to the lax Heartless. "This time, I'll protect you. She wrapped her arms around it as more Heartless began to pile on top of her. Toad and Luigi saw her predicament and rushed back to help. Before they could reach her, a bright flash of light appeared, destroying the Heartless.

The light cleared to reveal Sora holding Kairi. "Kairi, thank you."

"Sora!" At the mention of his name, several of the heroes nearly dropped their weapons from joy, but kept fighting, they were going to leave together, no matter what.

"Hey, what's this?" Sora spotted some Pokeballs in the corner. Picking them up, he handed one to Ash. "Can they help?"

Looking at what was inside, Ash smiled. "No doubt!" Tossing it, it released a Pokemon that resembled a huge white lion. "Solgaleo, go!" Solgaleo stiffened its position, and unleashed a wave of light as bright as the sun, clearing the room of all Heartless. Returning to its Pokeball, Ash took note of the other two. "Houndoom, and Absol! We're almost there!"

With the Heartless gone, there was a breather, but no one knew how long it would last. "Go."  
Sonic surprised everyone by speaking up. "More Heartless will be coming, and we still need to find Blaze anyway. So go."

"But we can't leave you."  
"He won't be alone. We'll help him!"  
"But you're injured, Knuckles."  
"I will stay, and try to continue healing his arm."  
"Thanks, Cream."  
"I will remain here as well. I still need to find Shield Knight."  
"And I've gotta find Roll."  
"We'll help ya too."  
"Let's go Team Blue."  
"All right, good luck. Now go already. You've found your friend, and now you've got to get her out of here! As well as the other girls we've freed. So come on, leave already!"

Sora nodded, leading a majority of them out, leaving behind Team Blue with Amy, Cream, Knuckles, Tails and many of those who had assisted Sora. But he promised to come back not only to help, but to finish what he started and seal the Keyhole.

—

With Sonic and friends telling Sora to leave the place without them, Sora brought the imprisoned maidens back, meeting with Cloud, Yoshimitsu, and Tifa, who had also returned from the journey. Just about everything was explained after a long while. "So the darkness is flowing out of that keyhole," Cloud said.

"No wonder there are more Heartless everywhere," Tifa added, "the only way to stop them is—"

"Seal the keyhole, right?" Sora said, raising the Keyblade.  
"Maybe," Cloud replied, "but no one knows what will happen once it's sealed."  
"Well, we can't just stay here! We have to do something. I've got a friend back there!"

"I know. Riku's Keyblade must've been forged from the maiden's of purest heart, like the keyhole you saw." Cloud then looked over to Kairi, who was accompanied by the formerly imprisoned girls. "But without her heart, it remains incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the girls' hearts should've been freed." Shaking his head, Cloud tried to give Sora a smile of encouragement. "Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save all of this, you can."

The girls standing near Tifa were Terra Branford, Rosa Farrell and Rydia, all four of them appeared to be having a rather pleasant conversation, while voicing concern over their friends. Yoshimitsu though, had to deal with the lazy shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei, sleeping on his bed, while keeping Marisa Kirisame from stealing anything belonging to the other girls.

"We're going to have to close that last keyhole before darkness overwhelms us. It's being held back for now, but Sora, you should probably go back to Hollow Bastion, just to stop it for good." Tifa said.

"Zelda hasn't returned to Hyrule I heard, despite the maidens hearts being freed," Cloud mentioned. "The only conclusion that I can come to is that they're still in the castle."

"By the way," Sora started again, "how's Claptrap?"

"Ratchet was in charge of repairing him, but Fox decided to call in Slippy to help him out. The lil' guy will be okay in no time!" Tifa answered, much to Sora's relief.

—

The trip over there was rougher than usual, with Heartless running around rampant. Traverse Town used to be so safe, but now, it seemed like everyone had locked up just to avoid confrontation with Heartless. Sora found himself evading them rather than fighting too, since it almost felt like a waste of time.

Once Sora was safe and sound inside of the observatory, the first thing he noticed was the other robotic girl they met, conversing with Dr. Light, who was looking down at the floor, still upset over what had happened to Roll, no doubt, and now worried over Rock remaining in the Hollow Bastion. Even Rush was rather disheartened, laying on the floor while whimpering.

"Dr. Light," Sora started, "I know it's hard right now, but I swear, we're going to get Roll back for you soon, no matter the circumstances! You'll see her again soon, I know it!"

"Thank you, Sora," Dr. Light replied, "you're just a human, but you're putting yourself into all these dangers, just so you could bring Rock and Roll back to me. But enough moping around for now." Stepping aside, Dr. Light introduced Sora to the rescued, robotic girl. "This girl here, her name is Curly Brace." Dr. Light introduced. "Right now, she's a little shaken. Although I am worried sick about Roll, Curly Brace was lucky to not suffer the same fate."

Meanwhile, Rosalina stepped into the scene, smiling softly. "Sora, I'm so glad you returned from the Hollow Bastion safely, and freed the last soul on your own. Dr. Light told me everything that had happened." She explained. "I was actually worried that the dangers would put an end to your journey."

Sighing in relief, she lowered her gaze. "I must be honest with you right now, you've been doing so much, and despite my attempts to aid you earlier, I feel as if I'm being selfish for not going out there to help you more often. Even the ones I had released, had chosen to help you in a dire time of need more than once. I keep asking myself if it is really for the best to remain in this observatory, and I can never find the answer."

"You shouldn't feel bad! It's too dangerous for you to come with us anyway." Sora reassured. "You need to be responsible over what goes on here, and you've been a huge help. Without you, I don't think we could have come this far. Besides, you and every other friend I've met had a huge hand. If not for every one of you, I wouldn't have realized how important friends are to me."

Nodding, Rosalina held up her wand. "As a friend then, I trust you with the most powerful magic. The strongest variation of all of the spells you have learned on your journey. You have done more than enough to earn it." Making a magic glow form around Sora and Luigi, they felt strength grow in their magic potential.

—

Professor Oak was absolutely amazed when he saw the Pokédex. Just about all of the stranded Pokémon had been filled out. "This is incredible, Sora!" Professor Oak exclaimed. "Why, with your collecting skills, I think I should reward you with something." He then left for a short period of time, then returned. "Right now, there are only three Pokémon missing. I'm not sure where they are, but I know one of them will not be so cooperative."

"How come?" Sora asked.

"Well, this Pokémon doesn't like being enclosed in Pokéballs, or being used as a tool. It will probably sense you from afar, and decide whether you are worthy of its trust or not." Professor Oak then gave Sora a purple Pokéball, which had an "M" on it. "This here is a Master Ball, you can only use it once, but it will catch any Pokémon with no struggle at all. This is good for a Pokémon that is very resistant."

"But why not just have them roam outside of the Pokéball if they don't want to be captured?"

"A good question. Pokéballs ensure the safety of Pokémon. Should a Pokémon be captured, they will at the very least be free of any harm before being sent into battle." Oak's expression then changed. "That Pokémon in particular, is known for being destructive to things around it, and itself. For its own sake, Sora, I ask that you secure it." That wasn't all Professor Oak had though, as he handed Sora a glove with a stone inside of it next. "You may need this too. I have a feeling that Pokémon could also be holding a Mega Stone."

"Mega Stone?"

"It allows certain kinds of Pokémon to evolve to an even stronger form, this is known as Mega Evolution." He explained. "If that Pokémon is holding a Mega Stone, and you encounter a powerful foe, I suggest using it."

What was this Pokémon that Oak was referring to? Would Sora even find the remaining three?

—

"We need to go back."

Fox raised his head, surprised. Ratchet and Clank were hanging out with him as well, mainly to fix Claptrap, and they were also shocked to hear that. "To Hollow Bastion, we're going back there," Sora explained.

"What!?" Falco exclaimed. "We're not letting you do that! Fox told us how crazy it was over there!"

"Sora, the presences there are more dangerous than before. The Heartless ones are multiplying by the minute. They would no doubt devour your ship."

"Well, then what can we do?" Sora asked. "I can't leave all of my friends behind. I know they're trying to hold the darkness back, but still. I need to go back there, I promised Dr. Light that Rock and Roll would be safe! Cloud suspects that all the maidens are still in the castle."

"I know!" Slippy chimed in. "Instead of going through there, you can go around it! You could install a new navigational gummi on your ship, and take a new route!"

"A new gummi? From where?"  
"The secret waterway!"  
"Secret waterway? Slip, when was there anything like that?" Falco asked.

"When we came here, I stored something I found in there, just in case we ever needed it," Slippy explained. "But it looks like it's gonna be useful to somebody else instead!"

"Why the secret waterway though?" Fox wondered.  
"Well, I thought it was only a secret place to me."

With that information, Sora took off to the waterway, hoping to find the navigational gummi there. Diving into the waterway in the corner of Traverse Town, Sora and friends managed to find a secret cavern inside. To their surprise, Kairi was already there, almost as if she knew Sora would be there. After Sora found the navigational gummi hiding behind a wall deep within a tunnel, he turned to Kairi.

"A light, at the end of the tunnel," Kairi said.  
"Oh, your grandma's story, right?" Sora asked.  
"That's right. We were together."

You know what's funny? I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along." Sora laughed. "Finally, we're together, Kairi. Now, it's time to get Riku back."

"You think it'll ever be the same again between us? Riku's lost his—"

"When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?" Sora explained. "I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things— my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me. But then, I hear a voice, your voice! You brought me back."

"I didn't want to just forget about you Sora," Kairi replied, "I couldn't."

"That's it!" Sora realized. "Our hearts are connected! And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light, I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."

Kairi smiled, a look of determination on her face. "Let's go!"  
"You," Sora's expression changed, "you can't go."  
"Why not?"  
"Because it's… way too dangerous!"  
"Come on Sora, we made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone!"  
"Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore, right?"  
"I can't help?"  
"You'd kind of be in my way."

The two then laughed. "Okay," Kairi gave in, "you win." Taking Sora's hand, Kairi put something in his palm, shaped like a flower and having a face on it. "Take this. It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me!"

"Don't worry, I will."  
"Promise?"  
"Promise!"  
"Don't ever forget, wherever you go, I'm always with you."

—

Stumbling down a dark path, his vision was blurry, head feeling fuzzy.

"Sora, Kairi," he thought, "I'm sorry." Looking around the path, which was surrounded by pure darkness, he blinked. "Is this the afterworld?" Staggering forth, Riku nearly fell to his knees again, a glow surrounding his body. "I'm not ready, not yet," he panted, "not until I see Sora and Kairi one last time—"

"Riku, can you hear me?"

He raised his head to the voice.

"I'll be there soon."

"Who is that!?" Riku shouted to the abyss, turning around, cold sweat dripping down his neck.

"I have the other Keyblade," the voice said, "the one that belongs to this world. I've been trying to get through to you, but the darkness in your heart kept me away."

"Who are you? What's happening to me!?"

"Your heart won the battle against darkness, but it was too late for your body. That's why you're here, in this place of darkness where hearts are gathered." The voice explained to him.

"So, what do I do?"

"The Door of Darkness will open soon, but it's a door we can't enter. It has to be closed from both sides. To do this, you need two keys and two hearts. Maybe you're here for the same reason I am. Maybe it was fate."

"Fate, huh?" Riku scoffed. "You seem to know everything, don't you? Then tell me, are Sora and Kairi okay?"

"Don't you feel the echoes of their hearts? You already know the answer. Look inside your own heart."

Riku closed his eyes, smiling, before opening them back up again.

"Okay."

—

A warp hole, it was exactly what Sora needed and it no doubt would lead to the alternate route for Hollow Bastion. Just before the Gummi Ship could enter it though, they were interrupted by someone trying to communicate to them.

"I don't think so, human. This is as far as you're going."

That voice was all too familiar, it was from the same coward that took away Kairi and Carmelita, dropping them off at the Hollow Bastion. A saucer was approaching Sora at moderate speed, which was enough to tell Sora who was trying to stop him.

"Crypto," Sora muttered.

"Yep, that's right. Got some orders from Poxy to try to stop you, while he and Drac do somethin' else. Naturally, I gotta follow them. That isn't a problem for you now, is it?" Crypto asked, mockingly.

"Pox? Dracula? But I thought Pox was destroyed, and Dracula is still in Hollow Bastion, isn't he?"

"Didn't Poxy tell you that he had clones of himself at the ready?" Crypto laughed. "You human types are stupid forgetful, so I guess I can't blame you for that. As for Drac, he got outta there and is still kicking, he ain't too happy about whatever took place in that castle. Maybe if I take care of you, the old bat will cheer up."

"Not on your life!" Sora recalled the all-range mode that Slippy had installed onto the ship, and quickly turned it on. The small wings of the Gummi Ship began to spread out, and the ship itself became thinner. "Whoa, so this is all-range mode? How am I going to get used to this?"

"I'm glad you asked, Sora!"

Sora's eardrums nearly shattered when he suddenly heard Slippy's voice coming from the communication on the ship. "Slippy!? How are you," realizing there was no point in asking how he made contact, Sora decided to just ask for aid instead. "Can you teach me about the controls of all-range mode?"

"Oh, I wasn't going to, but Peppy the old expert can!"

Suddenly, a new face appeared on screen, that belonging to the old hare who was often with the Star Fox team. "Alright, listen up Sora, I know you just got those upgrades to your ship. I'm going to teach you how to use them. You see that switch right there? When the foe is right behind you, try a somersault!" At that moment, Crypto's saucer was approaching Sora from behind, which gave Sora the perfect chance to use it. Pulling on the switch, the Gummi Ship flew upwards, looped, then came back down behind the saucer.

"What the heck!?" Crypto said.  
"Good, now the lever right above that one, boost to catch up to him!" Peppy suggested.

Sora did exactly that, catching up to the saucer, firing at it. Eventually, Crypto managed to turn the saucer around, shooting back at the Gummi Ship in an attempt to distract Sora, and attack him at a proper distance.

"Alright, he's trying to get away. Listen Sora, hold up your steering controls and you'll perform a U-turn! With that, you can turn all the way around and see where that guy went." Luigi felt himself getting motion sickness as Sora continued doing what Peppy said. Once Sora turned the Gummi Ship around, he locked onto the saucer, unleashing a charged blast at it. "Good work, now, next time that saucer fires at you, you can tilt the ship with the buttons on the steering controls."

Sora made the ship tilt to its side. "Press it more than once, and you can perform a barrel roll, which can be used to deflect laser-fire!" Once Crypto tried to fire at Sora, he performed the barrel roll to deflect them, irritated the alien even more. "There's a button on the Gummi Ship that'll unleash bombs, doing hefty damage to enemy ships. Try locking onto that guy and launching one at him!"

Carefully locking onto the saucer, Sora pressed the button, making a bomb fly straight in Crypto's direction. It made contact, blowing up on the saucer, doing a great amount of damage to it. "Damn! What's up with all these fancy tricks you're using, like you're in a dogfight!?" Crypto asked, trying to launch his Seeker Drones, missiles which pursued the Gummi Ship. "Ah, whatever, I'll just try to destroy you for the fun of it I guess."

"Shoot them down, you're being marked!" Once Peppy yelled that, Sora took aim and fired at the missiles, sending them down before they could make contact. After that, Crypto attempted to cloak his saucer, making it disappear. "You can still lock onto the invisible saucer, search for him and shoot him with a charged laser."

After a few seconds, Sora located the saucer and fired at it, making the cloaking disappear. "This is pissing me off," Crypto grunted, firing the death ray at the Gummi Ship. "This baby was built for blowing up buildings, vehicles, yet it's struggling with a kid's toy!?" Using a barrel roll to deflect part of the ray, Sora used the boost to fly past it, then performed a U-turn to start firing at the saucer again.

Crypto turned himself around to fire the Plasma Cannons at Sora, but they were once again dodged by barrel rolls. "I'm takin' too much damage here, Poxy ain't gonna like it if this thing gets totaled— gah!" The saucer was being chipped away, piece by piece, and Crypto soon found himself unable to use a lot of the weapons on his ship.

Before long, Sora fire two final shots at the saucer, which was enough to make it malfunction. "Aw, crap! Well, I guess this is it for me, how the heck did a stupid human like you manage to outsmart me?" Crypto shook his head, knowing all too well that the saucer would explode soon.

"I had some friends on my side to help me!"  
"Yeah, so? Geez, talk about cliché. Hopefully, it'll be the last time I see your face—"

He didn't even get a chance to finish that sentence, as the saucer exploded in space. Once Sora was done, he didn't look back, heading into the warp hole that would take them to the Hollow Bastion. "Good going, Sora!" Peppy complimented.

"Is that guy going to be alright?" Slippy asked.  
"I think Crypto can have clones dispatched, like Pox—"  
"No, I mean your friend."

Sora then looked back in the Gummi Ship, now seeing Luigi on the floor, passed out. "Oh, yeah, he'll be okay. Guess he got freaked out from all the motions."

—

Returning to Hollow Bastion, Sora was met with Tails first at the entrance where the waterfalls were crashing. "Tails," Sora started, "where's Blaze?"

"Still in the castle." Tails answered.  
"Against her will?" Toad asked.  
"No, I think she stayed for a reason, like we all did. The other girls are inside as well."  
"I wonder why?" Luigi questioned.  
"Well, if we can, we can ask them," Sora added.

"No worries, I'll help you!" Tails exclaimed, as Cream suddenly joined him. "Cream and I can fly you up to the highest point in no time at all. Right?" The rabbit nodded in agreement, and immediately held Sora by his arms, flying up to the castle. Tails took hold of Luigi and Toad before doing the same.

As they were all taken to the peak of the castle, Sora looked down, watching all of his friends trying their hardest to hold back Heartless. Ash and Pikachu were working together, so were Knuckles and Amy, as well as Tracer and Samus. They were all doing their best, and Sora knew he had to hurry to close the keyhole.

"Sora!" Zelda gasped. "Please hurry, darkness is pouring from the keyhole!"

"We're all holding back the darkness with the maidens, but I don't know how long we can manage it." Marcus explained.

"Keyblade master," the girl with braided hair said. "We've been waiting for you."  
"Um, who are you?" Sora asked. "And where's Ansem?"  
"Maria Renard, vampire hunter." She introduced herself. "I'm afraid Ansem is gone."

Wait, she was a vampire hunter? She didn't really look like one, not that Sora was going to point that out.

"Roll said that when the keyhole appeared, darkness poured out of it." Mega Man added. "It kind of swallowed Ansem and he disappeared. Ansem is gone, but the flooding of darkness hasn't stopped, so Roll is working together with everyone to hold it back."

"I can't forget the look on his face," Roll murmured, "as he was being engulfed, he was smiling."

Smiling in such a circumstance… it was disturbing to Sora. "I'm going to hurry now. That keyhole will be closed, and then we'll never have to worry about it again!" After that, he took off, running to where he had encountered Riku— no, Ansem for the first time.

—

The keyhole of darkness, better known as the dark depths. Sora didn't get a chance to close it before, and no doubt, powerful Heartless were inside. Once he had stepped inside, a terrible feeling came upon him, made worse when he saw a figure lying down inside of the colorful void.

"You're," Sora stammered, remembering the girl that he and Rosalina freed. "Arle!? What are you doing here? Are you hurt?" Immediately, Toad began healing her, since she was out of her own magic power to restore herself.

She laughed softly. "The Heartless in this portal, there were three of them before. I had Sonic, Mega Man, Shovel Knight, and Sparkster help initially, but I decided it was too dangerous after the one boss went down. I told them to leave the rest to me." Getting up, she sighed.

"What? What are you talking about?" Sora asked. "I thought the group of you were going to hold off the darkness as a team?"

Arle was able to recall the moment, not too long ago…

—

Inside of the void, Kurt Zisa, the six-armed beast of a Heartless fell over, defeated by the group of blue heroes. Sparkster's armor showed signs of damage, while Mega Man and Shovel Knight were equally exhausted. Sonic was getting fed up, but was more than willing to take down the next Heartless stepping up to the place. "That's one down! C'mon, the rest of you, show us what you got!" He taunted.

The two remaining Heartless, the Behemoth and the Phantom, lunged at Sonic, but he dodged the attack with his speed. "Too slow!" He laughed. "What's the deal with the rest of you? Come on, step it up!"

"Tis not so easy, my porcupine friend," Shovel Knight panted, taking out a Troupple Chalice. Mega Man did the same, but with an E-Tank, as both of them drank to replenish their energy. "We may have slain one of these beasts, but two powerful ones still remain! Even if things become easier with one down, we may not be able to keep ourselves up for the last creature."

During all of this, Arle downed a whole bottle of sake, restoring her magic power. Once she did however, she took notice of the Phantom Heartless, which fired a sphere of dark energy that homed in on Sonic, trying to drain his energy.

Shovel Knight was right, there was no way any of them could handle this much longer. Mega Man and Shovel Knight were suddenly both attacked by the Behemoth, and Sparkster was knocked down. It seemed that Arle didn't have any other options, as much as she hated doing it. They were a team, but no one here was experienced with these kinds of enemies besides Arle. Sonic tried to get Sparkster back up, but then, all of the sudden…

"Bayohihihii!"

Casting a large barrier, Arle looked at her allies. "I'm… sorry for what I'm about to do!"

Everyone was caught by surprise as the barrier pushed them all towards the exit of the dark depths. "Wha? Hey Arle, what gives!?" Sonic yelled. "I thought we were a team!"

"Listen, right now, there are others that need you more! Shield Knight, Roll, Tails, who knows what could happen next if you don't get out of here! Look what happened to Sparkster, do you know how much worse it may get? You need to stay by your friends, otherwise, you could lose your heart!"

"Nay, Arle!" Shovel Knight objected. "What of you then!?"

"I have Carby by my side, I'll never lose my heart to these monsters." The barrier kept pushing everyone back. "Don't worry about me, I've faced worse creatures, now go!"

"No!" Mega Man objected. "Arle, you won't just lose your heart, you might be killed by these things! We need to work together, we're all a team, aren't we!? I won't let you get yourself devoured!" Pounding against the barrier, Mega Man wasn't going to give up. As much as Sonic didn't want to either, he was taking the unconscious Sparkster into account. Shovel Knight meanwhile, had given up, and began pulling Mega Man away, who was struggling to break free.

Arle looked up at the Phantom, which was looming over her. "Heaven Ray!" She shouted, while Carbuncle began firing a laser.

—

"I did that, because I didn't want them eaten away," Arle explained. "I've already gone through frightening monsters since I was a kid, and I had Carby with me." Holding Carbuncle, who was shaking with worry, Arle laughed as dried blood streamed down her left eye. "I got rid of the Phantom creature, but the last one, I ended up passing out. I guess Carby pulled me away from there. I'm glad to have him, because if it had been anyone else but me,

"Arle," Sora started, "even if Roll, Shield Knight, or all of Sonic's friends weren't around, they wouldn't have lost their hearts." She raised her head in surprise, and wiped the bloodstain off of her eye. "They had you, and each other! You're in their hearts, and they're in yours. You were all a team, and together, you could have done anything."

Getting up, Arle felt her body recovering thanks to Toad, and she smiled. "I'm guess I'm still young and stupid, despite all of my experience." Arle laughed. "It was a bad decision, just to fight the both of them on my own. I may have still destroyed one, but I lost anyway. Pretty foolish of me, huh?"

"You just did it to save your friends, I'm sure they'll understand when this is all over." Sora replied. "And now, you know that nothing will hurt them, so long as you all stick together!" As Sora prepared to go inside of the dark depths further, he was stopped by Arle, who grabbed him by the shoulder.

"After that saying that, do you think I'm going to let you fight on your own?" She said with a laugh. "We'll go in there together!"

"Huh?" Sora stammered, nervously.  
"We're in each other hearts as friends, right? Then let me come with you!"  
"But, you were already hurt—"  
"Yeah, but I was just with Carby that time, and no one else!"  
"We'll all work together!" Toad chimed in.  
"Let's-a go!" Luigi added.

As usual, there was no point in trying to make Arle stay back, so Sora allowed her to accompany the group. They all moved further into the void, to face the remaining Heartless that was waiting for them; the Behemoth.

Stomping over towards the group, the Behemoth let out a roar. It leaped towards Sora, doing a hefty amount of damage. "Revia!" Arle called out, creating some sort of countering shield around Toad. "Diacute!" After that chant, she powered up Sora's next attack. "Elemental magic doesn't do anything to it. That's the reason why I couldn't defeat it, not unless I used other kinds of spells." Arle explained. "Sora, try something else against it!"

He nodded, and immediately used his most powerful version of Gravity magic. "Graviga!" Sora yelled, doing a hefty amount of combined damage to the Behemoth. "Arle, do you know anything else about this enemy?"

"Its weak point was that little black horn if I remember right," Arle answered, "if you strike there, it'll probably fall over!" Understanding, Sora attempted to climb the Behemoth's back and struck the black horn on its head. Luigi didn't know what to do other than help Toad reach the horn, since his jumps were too short. In the process, Toad was struck by the Behemoth, but it backfired, as the Revia spell acted as a direct damage counter, inflicting pain on the Behemoth as well.

The Behemoth fell to the ground for a short while, which gave everyone the chance to attack. Unlike before, it wasn't just Arle either, so the battle would be much easier with a whole group. "Jugem!" Arle shouted, casting an insane amount of power onto the Behemoth. Staggering in pain, the Behemoth began to use thunder magic, which came down on Luigi and Arle.

It was clear to Sora now, when Arle was cornered out of using elemental magic, she had to use her powerhouse stuff, which was draining her magic power. It's no wonder she was able to defeat the Phantom Heartless, but not the Behemoth, she must've ran out of ways to recover her magic power before defeating it. "Toad, pass Arle an elixir!" Sora suggested. It may seem like a waste, but right now, she was the main powerhouse of magic, since she knew spells that Sora and Luigi did not.

"He's weakening a lot more now," Arle pointed out, "I'm going to use a spell to stun this monster, then you can come in for the kill!" Running up to the monster, Arle suddenly cast a flowery spell, which made blossoms surround the Behemoth. "Bayoen!"

Stunned and in awe over the flowery spell, the Behemoth was open to strike. Sora swung his Keyblade at the Behemoth, Luigi used Gravity magic, Toad bashed the creature with his shields, and Arle cast Bayoen a second time, just to keep the creature distracted.

"This is almost too easy!" Toad commented.

"I guess this is what the power of teamwork is all about!" Arle exclaimed. "I got worried… for nothing! But now, I've learned!" Suddenly, Carbuncle hopped over, the gemstone in his head glowing with a bright red light. "Huh? Uh oh! Get out of the way, Carby is gonna blow a fuse!" Sora looked back at the small creature, and got out of the way. Luigi and Toad did the same, uncertain what was going to happen.

While the Behemoth was still stunned, Carbuncle fired a laser from his forehead, doing a grave amount of damage to the Behemoth's remaining stamina. Sora took a moment, watching the Behemoth suddenly disappear from thin air, almost as if its very existence had been destroyed. "That was super easy! See Arle? You should've kept your team around!" Toad said.

"Hey, c'mon Toad. She had to face three of them, and one that was immune to elementals after all of that." Sora pointed out. "If we were in that situation, we would probably need a breather. Especially if we ran out of elixirs and potions."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Toad admitted, "anyway, let's go and seal that big keyhole!"

"Sora, you did it!"

Turning around, Sora saw Sonic standing near the exit, looking proud. "Tails told me that you might be here. Arle, it's good to see you're safe."

The group of them stepped out of the dark depths, where Sora was met with the group of blue-clad heroes, as well as Shield Knight and Roll. "Rock said he was worried about his friend, and desperately wanted to come back despite being told to watch over me." Roll explained.

"This place, I looked into it. It had once been so peaceful." Shield Knight explained. "It was once a calm castle, but nine years ago, it seems that the vampire invaded this place. Many had attempted escape, and ended up in Traverse Town. Once the one named Ansem is defeated, it should all return to normal, including several other places."

"Really!?" Sora exclaimed.  
"But," Sparkster continued, "it also means goodbye, doesn't it?"

Nearly everyone went quiet, until Shovel Knight picked up where Sparkster had left off. "Once all the worlds are restored, they shall be separate again? Is that right?"

"Everyone will go back where they came from, I guess." Sonic said with a sigh.  
"We could visit each other with Sora's help!" Mega Man suggested.  
"Rock, it's not that simple." Roll replied.

"Before all of this, none of us knew of other worlds, because we were all isolated." Shovel Knight pointed out. "Impassable walls divided between them."

"It was those Heartless which broke those walls," Shield Knight added. "If those worlds return, so will the walls."

"What you're saying is," Arle muttered, "we'll never…?" Hanging her head low, a look of disappointment was on Arle's face. Sora looked back at the keyhole, now becoming uncertain if he really wanted to ruin this for them all. "Listen, before we part ways, I just want to say I'm sorry, okay?" She said, trying to smile through the rather unfortunate circumstances. "I only pushed you all away earlier, because I wanted to protect you. But because of all of you, I realize that wasn't the right thing! But know this, even when we're separated… we'll all be together! So let's not be sad about this!"

"Arle…" Mega Man then smiled. "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other!"

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again!" Shovel Knight declared.  
"Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to!" Sonic joked.  
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sparkster laughed.

Being so distracted by the touching scene, Sora finally had his attention grabbed by his own friends.

"Sora!" Luigi called out.  
"Hurry up! Come and close the keyhole!" Toad yelled.

"Sora," Arle spoke putting a hand on his shoulder again, "good luck out there."

With words of encouragement from both Arle and Carbuncle, Sora went back into the dark depths to close the keyhole.

A heart-shaped crevice, glowing pink inside, having a cross of some kind over it. It was a beautiful sight, and once Sora pointed his Keyblade at it, firing the laser, the glow faded and the soft clicking noise could be heard. This time, a blue glow surrounded the heart-shaped crevice, as it began to fade away, followed by the keyhole itself.

—

"Thank you, Sora," Keira said, accompanied by all the other maidens. "I think the darkness is starting to weaken."

"But I can still feel a powerful darkness growing from somewhere far away," Zelda mentioned.  
"The heart of darkness," Maria added, "it must be where Ansem went."

"Then we'll take the Gummi Ship to deal with both Ansem and the Heartless!" Sora declared.  
"Good answer, take care of that criminal scum," Carmelita replied.  
"Sora, your courage can bring back our worlds, I just know it!" Roll said.

"Once the darkness is gone, all will return to its original state," Maria added.  
"Kairi will be back on the island?" Sora asked.  
"Yes, and you shall too," Zelda replied.  
"I can't go home until I find Riku and Mario I'm afraid."

"By the way," Carmelita started again, "a little girl with blonde hair carrying a book was looking for you. She said she found something in the library that might interest you."

"Alice?" Sora wondered.

What could she possibly have?

—

In the library of the Hollow Bastion, Sora found Alice, still lurking around the place. "Look, I'm only doing this because that talking cat said that the holder of the Keyblade would interested in reading this."

"Reading what?"

"The rest of this Ansem guy's report. Dracula was collecting these. I'm just here to learn a bit more magic, and test it out maybe." Sora averted his gaze to the dolls made of straw, which had some names scribbled on, and five-inch nails sitting near them.

"What is that?" Sora asked.

"Wara ningyō, it's a doll for cursing!" Alice replied, before realizing her slip-up. "I mean, I don't hold any grudges or anything, and I'm not doing anything bad, I promise." Looking over the dolls, Sora noticed some hairs tied onto the dolls. "By the way, do you have any of Ansem's hair?"

"No," Sora replied, "why would I have that? And why do you want that?"  
"Um, no reason."

Sora then realized something about what Alice had said. "Wait, what was that about a cat?"

"She's upstairs, I don't know her, but she has fire magic or something," Alice said, getting back to work on her dolls, which had the names of Marisa and Reimu marked on them. Sora then ran up the library's stairs, with Sonic and friends overhearing the conversation, they followed.

There, they found a purple feline who had anatomy similar to Sonic. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had a red jewel in her forehead. "Blaze!" Cream cried out, running up to her and embracing her.

"Blaze! You're safe!" Amy also cried, doing the same thing as Cream. "Please, tell me you're alright, we've been worried sick about you!"

Startled by the sudden emotions being poured out on her, Blaze slowly smiled, and embraced her two friends. "Yes Cream, Amy, I'm fine." She then looked over to Sonic.

"Good to see you again, Blaze," Sonic said.

With that, it seemed Sora's time in the Hollow Bastion was just about over. Now, he had to find Ansem.

-

(chapter end)


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 14  
Legendary Illusion and the Infinite Being

"You there!"

Dracula came to a halt with his associates, as they were suddenly stopped by a maid in a red dress.

"Intruders who use the darkness, leave at this moment. We do not need any more destruction, and I will force my hand if you disgrace what is left of the mistress's creations!" Summoning swords at her will, they pointed at Dracula. His allies scattered, but he remained perfectly still, not letting the silver threat bother him. "Your sins are many and deep, you will not be forgiven!"

"Sins?"  
"Yes, allow me to cleanse you of them."  
"Hm," Dracula paused, "I may only commit more."

Before he could say anything else, the swords were flung in his direction.

—

Sora landed the Gummi Ship on the newly opened world… is that what it was?

Once he stepped out of the cavern he had landed in, Sora had gotten a different impression. This was not a world, but rather, it was the end of a world.

"Is this," Toad stammered, "all that's left of the worlds taken by Heartless?"

"I think so, the End of the World," Sora replied. "But those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?"

"I hope so," Luigi muttered.

"But if we do beat him, and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what will happen to this place? And to us?"

"Um—" Luigi trembled but was cut off.  
"This is a Heartless world, right? So I bet it'll disappear!"  
"Huh!?"

"No worries though, our hearts won't go anywhere if this place vanishes! I know we'll find Mario and Riku, I just know it!"

Looking at the lucky charm that Kairi gave him, Sora slowly nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He then smiled gently. "I'll return this, I promise." Once he was done talking to himself, Sora moved on with his companions, shocked to see just how much of an amalgamation the End of the World was. Sora glanced down at a shining hole once he reached a dead end, and jumped down.

"This is," Sora muttered, "Traverse Town? No, only a part of it that's stuck here."

As he left the part of Traverse Town, which was swarming with Heartless, the next place resembled Rainbow Resort, where Sora had met Kirby. He remembered his first adventure with the pink puffball, it was a rather fun one, even if it was just the beginning of his journey.

The next area resembled Mortal Kombat's arena, making Sora remember Kratos. Sure, he was harsh at first, and brutal, but underneath, Sora could tell that it was only because his heart had been hurt before. It was frightening to fight in that arena, but now it was all over.

The construction site, where Kor had revealed his true colors. It was a dark time for Sora, since he had gotten into a fight with his friends, but he eventually pushed it aside after being with Jak and Daxter, and realized what was more important. Kor was just a pawn for the darkness to use, though it would not be wrong to say he deserved it.

Hyrule, specifically, Kakariko's graveyard. The Shadow Temple still gave Luigi the chills, even now, but he became much more courageous since then. Sora hoped that Hyrule would return to its peaceful days, now that Zelda had been rescued and Ganondorf had been sealed.

A part of the Halo, which somehow remained through all of this. What stuck out the most through that part of the adventure, was how crazy Dr. Nefarious was, using a Pokémon and screaming at the top of his lungs. Sora was lucky he would never had to see him again.

Oddworld, the place was rather gross and creepy, but Abe was a Mudokon with a heart of gold. The smell of rotten meat was easy to get by so long as Sora remembered saving him from Eggman, which led to the Mudokon race rescuing all of them in return. Abe was destined to be a savior, that was for certain.

Krakarov Volcano, which was only just a chunk of the world where Sly Cooper was met. When they first met, Sora thought all thieves were bad, especially given Carmelita's word. However, he had been proven wrong, in what was possibly one of Sora's biggest struggles. Even then, Sora's friends managed to pull through when he wasn't able to do anything.

Finally, the world of Minecraft. Sora would always fondly remember Steve as a companion. If not for having friends suddenly appear by his side, Steve no doubt would have given in to the darkness in his heart. Perhaps Herobrine represented what Steve could have been?

Once Sora passed through all of the fragmented worlds, he found himself in a long hall, which had a laboratory inside of one of the rooms. Stepping inside, Sora began to read what was on the giant machine

"Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path.

"Seven hearts, one keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens."

"Human,"

Sora jumped, hearing a voice in his head. Luigi and Toad had heard it too. Behind them was a feline-like creature with purple skin, abnormal ears, and a tube connecting its head and back. "I have sensed your arrival, you are someone lost within this realm?"

"No, I," Sora stammered, "came here on purpose."

Next to the feline creature appeared to be a dog-like one, which had blue fur and dark grey markings. "You are the wielder of the key, Lucario sensed it. You are also the one who has rescued Pokémon from all of the worlds they had been stranded to."

"Huh?" Sora then paused. "Wait, are you a Pokémon?"

The creature didn't give an answer, as Sora took out his Pokédex and began to scan it. The Pokédex confirmed what this creature was; Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon. With him was Lucario, the Aura Pokémon.

"We have been waiting for someone to rescue all of those who had been stranded," Mewtwo explained. "Lucario can sense your aura has a wonderful heart, and I can sense that your mind desires conclusion. For that, we shall accompany you, so long as we are returned—"

"Psy!"

All of the sudden, a little yellow duck waddled forward, holding its head. "Psy?"

"That one is with us," Mewtwo quickly pointed out. "He just happened to be here while we were searching this scrambled realm." Sora scanned it, confirming it to be a Pokémon known as Psyduck. "Sora, allow us to work together. Normally, I trust no human, but with Lucario's power, I am able to know which humans will not abuse me for my abilities."

Nodding, Sora understood what he must do. Putting Psyduck and Lucario away in Pokéballs that were given to him, he prepared to do the same for Mewtwo, but was stopped by the Pokémon itself. "I do not like being imprisoned in those," Mewtwo said firmly.

It looked like Mewtwo would just have to walk with them for now, which was fine by Sora, although a little weird. He decided that in the meantime, he would do some reading up on Mewtwo in the Pokédex.

—

Mewtwo is a psychic Pokémon that was created by genetic manipulation. However, even though the scientific power of humans created this Pokémon's body, they failed to endow Mewtwo with a compassionate heart, instead being savage, only caring about defeating foes…

"That is how I was made," Sora was startled once again by Mewtwo, who could read what he was thinking. "It is only partly true. I was made by heartless people who only wanted to create the strongest Pokémon, and they succeeded. Compassion is difficult for me," Mewtwo then slowly blinked. "But my heart has not trailed away, despite where I am now."

There was a long pause, as Mewtwo's mood began to change. "A long time ago, I may have. Someone told me, that life was wonderful. But for whatever reason, I could not understand why." Mewtwo then glanced at Sora. "Someone, I do not remember. But the Kairi person in your mind, they remind me of whoever this was. I am savage, but it was not my own will to be this way. Admittedly, I was curious about the compassionate heart that set foot here."

Sora definitely could understand that, and he realized that there was no reason to fear Mewtwo now. This power and life wasn't something he asked for at all, but right now, he was trying to make the best of it, even in a terrible situation.

As they continued walking, this time through a path made of dark blue, almost resembling ice. On the ground was a maid in red. She had been knocked unconscious, and swords surrounded her body. Mewtwo's eyes widened, as he began to sense things with his mind. "These are the remains of the demon world; Makai. The woman here is a demon, not a normal human."

"Makai? Demon!?" Sora stuttered, remembering that name, which Alice had uttered once.

Before Mewtwo could clarify, he used his psychic powers to push Sora and his party away. Just before Sora could ask what the big idea was, Mewtwo prepared a Shadow Ball, tossing it at the one who fired a laser from above. "Cowards," Mewtwo called out, as Pox was knocked down from his hiding place.

"Pox!" Sora gasped.

"That's not all," Toad yelped, pointing at two familiar doctors. "Dr. Eggman and Nefarious!"  
"Shao Kahn!?" Luigi stammered as the Outworlder stepped forth.

Finally, there stood Dracula, looking tattered from the previous encounter. "Sora, I can never forgive you for humiliating me, and Riku for betraying my trust." Dracula hissed. "The one person I actually treated like my own, reminding me of my son. It was a mistake to trust a human so much!"

"But what about Ansem!?" Sora exclaimed.  
"Hey, where's Ganondorf?" Toad randomly asked.

"Sealed away, though I would much rather he be here over these gaggle of selfish morons plus Shao Kahn." Nearly everyone except Shao Kahn gave an offended look, while the Outworlder chuckled. "As for Ansem, I will deal with him in the same way I shall deal with that traitor child, two birds with one stone. But first, our business with you is unfinished."

"Prepare to die, squishies!" Dr. Nefarious laughed.  
"This time, you will not taste victory." Shao Kahn declared.

"Dracula told me that you were helping that meddlesome hedgehog, all the more reason to dispose of you now!" Eggman said.

"Don't think I forgot how you bashed that Keyblade against my head, you disgusting, smelly human! Despite being a clone, I never forget what happens previously!" Pox growled.

Meanwhile, Orbot, Cubot, and Lawrence just watched on the sidelines. "You go, boss!" Cubot cheered.

Toad and Luigi prepared themselves for Eggman and Nefarious, Mewtwo was staring down Pox and Shao Kahn, hoping to have a worthy foe, while Sora was face-to-face with Dracula once again.

"This time, I will smite you!"

Just before Dracula could lunge at Sora, everyone was stopped by a flurry of projectiles. No one could dodge it, and they were all knocked down. They were all dazed and confused for a good minute, not even Mewtwo saw that attack coming. Looking for the source of it, Dracula averted his gaze, looking up at the black sky.

"Who dares to—"  
"I do."  
There, floating in the sky stood a figure in red robes made of silk, having white frills on the end. A woman who was tall, having white hair, part of it being held up by a pair of red beads. Her eyes were a light-blue color, matching her hair, and although her face was innocent and cute, there was some sort of menacing aura to her. She landed gently, having a look of amusement on her face.

"I see, so it was you who took down Yumeko, I can't believe she lost. She's a creation of the highest caliber. But yet, the lot of you ganged up on her, how cowardly." Shao Kahn and Dr. Eggman both raised a brow at her, as Dracula, in a twist of events, found himself getting the chills for a change.

"Creation? What, you made her or something?" Eggman asked.  
"This foolish woman, does she think she is some kind of god?" Shao Kahn laughed.

The woman giggled at them, while Dracula looked back, ready to call his allies fools for what they have just said. "Pardon the late introduction, but that is correct. I am Shinki; goddess of the demon realm." She answered, watching the shock on everyone's face. "Everything from Makai is my creation, and if I'm right, it is because of you that it shattered, yes?"

Dracula pushed his uncertainty aside, he had defied life-giving gods before, and even if this was a demon before him, he wasn't going to be intimidated by this woman. "That it is, I have heard of you, demon god. Let it be known that it is not you I am after, but rather, the life of this human, and revenge against all of— ARGH!"

Suddenly firing a laser from the palm of her hand, Shinki blasted Dracula where he stood, not even flinching as he screamed. Dr. Nefarious, Pox, Eggman and Shao Kahn were baffled. Even Lawrence, Orbot and Cubot were rendered speechless at the demon god's power, and how she didn't seem to care about her own actions.

"Vampire, in the end, you are just another puppet," Shinki said, as Dracula began dissolving into darkness.

"You there! Demon squishy! Just what is it that you're saying!?" Nefarious stammered, a hint of fear in his voice.

"The Heartless that you had all been using in your own schemes, had been using Dracula himself from the very beginning. It seems that believing that his motives were pure, he failed to notice the darkness in his heart, eating away at him. What a fitting end for such a fool, thinking he was above it all!" Shinki laughed. "And soon, the same will happen to the rest of you. Without anything in your heart, they will come after you. I suggest you back down now, before the inevitable happens."

Dr. Nefarious, Eggman, and Pox became collectively worried. They started backing away from Shinki, terrified of the cute-faced demon god. Shao Kahn however, remained his ground, amused and not intimidated in the slightest. None of them could have predicted what happened next though, as Sora stepped in front of Shinki, protecting the other villains, in spite of all that they had done.

"Stop! Why did you do that to Dracula!?" Sora shouted.  
"Oh? You're defending such a bad person?" Shinki questioned.

"He only did all of this because of his grudge on humanity." Sora pointed out. "Sure, his heart is dark, and he brought terror to all of the worlds, but he only did it because he wanted to avenge someone special to his heart! He didn't even use Riku, he actually trusted him!"

"Even if I didn't blast him into little atoms, he was already long gone by now."  
"He could have been saved!"  
"Oh my, this is how you thank me for protecting you?"

Sora then felt uneasy. This woman… why was her voice so familiar?

"So, you are Sora?" Shinki chuckled.  
"You, you know my name? How?"

The answer became more clear as Shinki held his arm, which was carrying the Keyblade. He had felt this grasp before, and heard this voice, which while calming, was also chilling.

"The one destined to hold the Keyblade, I had been searching for the young man that will restore worlds. It was fate for us to meet, from the very beginning, I was in your heart." Sora's expression became increasingly nervous as Shinki's grasp tightened on him, her words charismatic. "Do not be afraid, it was I who helped give you the power to fight."

"You," Sora stammered, unable to bring himself to be freed. "You're the one who kept talking to me in my dreams!?"

"As a demon god, I have powers that most could not even imagine," Shinki explained. "Some abilities which are akin to demons who invade others as they rest, one could say. But yes, it is I who told you about the keyholes and your destiny. The thread of fate tied you to me and what remains of Makai from the start."

"What do you want from me!?" Sora finally backed away, rejoining his allies, pointing the Keyblade at Shinki. "You were after something, weren't you?"

"I want nothing much, except for your assistance." Shinki then floated back up into the air. "Sora, I ask you to join me in rebuilding Makai. It was your destiny to fix worlds, and recreating the demon realm is something of the highest honor. I will crown you as king of Makai, and with your power, you can rule by my side!"

"No!" Sora refused, bemusing Shinki. "If I do that, I would have to abandon my friends! Toad, Luigi, Kairi, Riku. I won't accept that!"

"Predictable," Pox grumbled.  
"What a strange woman, asking a child of all things." Shao Kahn muttered.

"Silence!" Shinki shouted. "I help you all this way, and you reject your destiny? The price of refusing the demon god is a steep one, and I will not overlook it! Let's see if you're worthy of holding that Keyblade after all!" Flying further into the air, Shinki unleashed another barrage of projectiles, which made everyone start running, except for Mewtwo.

"It seems we cannot go any further unless she is dealt with," Mewtwo sighed. Using his psychic powers to lift Sora, Luigi and Toad into the air, they all began floating at their free will. "I am strong enough to suspend you in the air for as long as possible, that is, unless that demon inflicts enough damage. Try to avoid everything she has."

"So uh," Cubot said, "are we just going to watch this?"  
"Free fireworks show, can't complain," Lawrence commented.

A cluster of lasers were fired in Sora's direction, which forced Sora to fly out of the way with his friends. A flurry of narrow bullets were unleashed soon after, but Toad took the hit for Sora and Luigi, using his shields to block them. Trying to get up close while Shinki was distracted, Sora swung the Keyblade at her, making her wince from the sudden pain. Beams of light suddenly protruded from Shinki's back, doing damage to Sora, flinging him back.

The small beams of light suddenly took shape, forming six beautiful, white wings, more reminiscent to that of an angel rather than a demon. After this transformation, the sky became blue. Spheres of light formed over Shinki's wings, releasing smaller spheres which cluttered Sora's view. Getting up close was a bad idea, so instead, Sora and Luigi began to use magic. Casting Firaga, giant fireballs were launched in Shinki's direction, doing a grave amount of damage to her.

Once the attack of all the spheres ended, Sora got back up close to Shinki again, hoping to try to clip the wings made of light. It didn't seem possible at all, as Toad proceeded to bash Shinki's face with the shields, before she shoved him away. Forcing Sora and company to stay centered, Shinki unleashed projectiles from the sides in order to enclose them. Along with that, Shinki fired curving lasers, which nearly homed in on Sora. It was almost too difficult to focus, so Sora waited until the attack was over.

Eventually, Shinki did burn out, allowing Luigi to cast Thundaga on her, and then taking in an elixir right after. The light of Shinki's wings began to shimmer, turning into a purple color with demonic red markings. Truly, she resembled a devil more now, and coming from her wings were a load of purple spheres which matched her wings, which struck Luigi and Toad without much warning.

A pair of red orbs appeared on the ends of Shinki's wings, which began firing bullets in a circular motion, with more purple spheres being launched from Shinki's hands. Toad took cover on the purple spheres despite being hurt, using his shields to keep them from hitting Sora. Luigi and Sora both cast ice magic from afar, hoping to freeze Shinki somehow, but the intense power was able to keep herself from being frozen.

As usual, Shinki gave up eventually, and smiled as the sky turned a fiery red. "Making it through this much of my power, how fascinating. I'm afraid to inform you though, you will most definitely not survive this next move, Keyblade holder." Four glowing orbs formed on Shinki's wings, as she began to shout out the next attack. "Behold! Devil's Great Magic!"

She then began firing bullets all around from the red launchers, projectiles were unleashed from her wings as well, same with the purple spheres. "This is insanity!" Luigi cried out, attempting to cast more magic despite how much terror he was in. To make matters worse, the launchers began to fire powerful lasers, four of them which attempted to close in on Sora. The lasers ended up setting everything around it ablaze, even the other villains appeared to be mortified by this intense power.

It seemed like a longshot, but Sora had to use his magic just to get her to stop, even if drained him. "Graviga!" He cast the spell over Shinki, crushing her with the event horizon. Shinki ceased the lasers, her wings fading along with her great power. She didn't even seem to care that everything around her burst into flames by her own hand, she wasn't going to lose. Panting in exhaustion, she simply started making light spheres circle around, hoping that one of them would hit Sora.

However, in spite of the danger, Sora was closing the distance, preparing to strike the demon god with his Keyblade. Slicing her with it, the hair beads were cut off, and Shinki started to lose the power to suspend herself in the air. She had completely burned off all of her energy, despite using all of her might, which made Shinki collapse to the flaming grounds below.

"I have been," Shinki wheezed, "defeated again? Me?" Her pain not softened at all by the ground, unlike Sora and friends, who were carefully brought back down by Mewtwo's psychic powers. "Hah, I suppose you really are worthy of holding that Keyblade. It was a mistake for me to get hasty, do what you must." She sighed in defeat, not willing to fight any further. Even though she was an enemy, her intents were not poor, and Sora could see that as he began to heal her.

"I'm sorry, but you can't manipulate fate," Sora explained. "I need to be with my friends, and once this is over, I can't just stay with you! I'm grateful for you preparing me for this adventure, and staying in my heart for so long, but…"

"No, I understand now. It is unfortunate, you are such a worthy soul, full of potential. You will become a wonderful warrior given enough time." She then pondered, and began giggling in a mischievous way, a peculiar look in her eyes even though she had just been beaten. "Well then, how about this instead? Let's say, years from now when you're older, we somehow cross paths again when Makai is restored, if such a thing happens, you can come to my Pandemonium, so I can give you something great."

"Something great?"  
"We could have a wonderful time together. It is the most I can do for a worthy person."  
"Well, I doubt it will happen," Sora muttered, "but sure!"  
"Will you accept the offer of being king of Makai then?"  
"Wha— no! Kairi would kill me!"

"Drat," Shinki grumbled as she got up. "You're still a child though, you'll learn to understand why it's such a golden chance." Chuckling, she offered Sora her hand. "Well then, you wish to be guided to where Ansem is hiding, yes? Allow me to aid you, like I have before."

"What's up with this woman?" Eggman muttered, confused by Shinki's desires as much as everyone else, but Shinki had not forgotten about them, as she began to face them.

"All of you," Shinki threatened, "Begone now, and never dare try to meddle with Heartless or this boy ever again! You had seen what happened to your leader, and surely, the same will happen to you!" They all collectively wince and took their leave. Even Orbot, Cubot, and Lawrence wanted nothing more to do with it. Shao Kahn was last to leave, as he appeared to have different intents in mind.

Once that was over, Shinki took Sora by the hand, guiding him to what lied ahead. Sora had to be careful, Shinki was no evil entity, but she was highly destructive, and crossing her again would be a poor decision. At the same time though, this was the woman who guided him to his destiny in the first place, there was no longer any reason to be wary of her, even if she struck Dracula down to protect Sora.

—

Another Behemoth, Sora did not think there would be a second one. As it towered over him, Luigi, Toad, and Mewtwo, the Heartless roared, preparing to crush the enemies before it. Surrounding the Behemoth were carious other Heartless, indicating that Sora would be in for the fight of his life.

Well, that's what it seemed like, if not for Shinki unleashing her power on all of the Heartless, immediately eliminating them with a laser from her wings. "How annoying," Shinki sighed, putting a new pair of beads back in her hair. "We cannot have any distractions when the end is so near, now can we?" Luigi and Toad were absolutely shocked, and frightened by her disposing of those Heartless so easily. Mewtwo could definitely feel her raw power, and it was fascinating.

Sora approached a door in a more calming, peaceful area. "The Final Rest," Shinki spoke, "be careful, this is the last haven that you will find here." Touching the door with her hand, she giggled. "Beyond, there will be no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. After all, your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. You are the one destined to open the door to the light, Sora." After she touched the door, Shinki placed her hand on Sora's head, ruffling his hair.

"This place feels oddly similar to—"  
"Your dreams?"  
"Yeah," Sora replied, "are you, coming with us? Or are we on our own?"

"Hm, that's a good question." Shinki chuckled. "I know you can handle things on your own, and that is your destiny, but I simply must stay by your side after you have proven yourself. I need to watch and see how things play out. I'm sure the feline there would understand." Mewtwo narrowed his eyes at Shinki at the mention of his presence. "I think he wants to see this to the end too."

Nodding, Sora opened the door, being met with a shining, bright light. Something about all of this felt nostalgic, and soon, he would see why.

—

Soft sands, blue ocean. Sora couldn't believe what he was witnessing at that moment.

"Is this," he stuttered, "is this my island?"

"This world has been connected."

That voice, it belonged to Ansem! Sora averted his gaze, seeing a part of the Destiny Island disappear suddenly. "What was that!?" Toad stammered.

"Tied to the darkness," Ansem continued, making trees disappear. "Soon to be completely eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand so little." The ocean began to turn dark. "A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

Within a flash of light, the islands became corrupted. Bits of dark purple covered the trees and earth, as Riku— no, Ansem— was standing on the edge of a cliff. The five of them stared at the boy, and approached him.

"Take a look at this tiny place," Ansem spoke, refusing to face his foes. "To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so, this boy sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds, and he opened his heart to darkness." Finally turning around, the image of Riku vanished, being replaced entirely by Ansem.

"Riku!" Sora cried out.

"Don't bother," Ansem chuckled, "your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and also end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature! In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence is came!" Vanishing, Ansem suddenly appeared behind the group, only for any of his attempts to be blocked off by Mewtwo's psychic power.

"You see," Ansem raised his hand, "darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora retorted. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!" Shinki and Mewtwo both smiled at the well-said words, standing by Sora.

Irritated, Ansem began floating up in the air. "So you have come this far, and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" A pureblood Heartless, his guardian, suddenly spawned behind him, its appearance as menacing as ever.

"My, what in the world is this? An enemy Stand?" Shinki joked.

Being unamused even further, Ansem looked down at the demon god, who had not noticed until now. "You, how is it that you're still squirming around this realm? Were you hoping for this boy to come along?"

"I was strong enough to hold on." Shinki raised a hand, preparing to destroy Ansem in a single shot. "But I don't think the same will be said about you, for someone who spouts all that kind of nonsense can only be a weak man!" After blasting him, Shinki waited for the smoke to clear up, but Mewtwo began picking something up. He turned around again, flinging a Shadow Ball at Ansem, who had reappeared elsewhere, once Shinki realized he survived, her expression changed. "What? That's impossible! There is no way for you to have survived that!"

"Shinki, Ansem isn't someone who is going to topple over from raw power," Sora explained, getting into a battle stance with his friends. "We all have to work together!" After saying that, Sora looked at Mewtwo, and found himself remembering what Professor Oak had said earlier. Ansem's guardian started by flinging energy disks at everyone. Toad tried to block them off with his shields, while Mewtwo attempted to protect himself.

A small window to be attacked, Sora ran up and took the chance, slicing at Ansem with the Keyblade, Luigi joined in by casting Gravira and Shinki launched purple spheres at Ansem. Angered, Ansem shouted for his companion to shield him. "Come, Guardian!" After which, Mewtwo teleported behind Ansem, and used a strong, telekinetic force against him. Feeling the pain on the force, Ansem gritted his teeth and the Guardian shifted its attention to Mewtwo, swiping at the Pokémon, but not before Sora jumped in to protect him.

"Sora?" Mewtwo questioned, having never seen such a selfless act be used to protect him.

"I just remembered," Sora panted, unable to move much with the guardian now possessing him. As Sora struggled to raise his arm, Ansem cackled, no longer having the guardian by his side since it had taken hold of Sora. Shinki and Toad, in fury, both began to wail all they had against Ansem, hoping to free Sora, who was showing Mewtwo his glove. "Do you have… a Mega Stone?"

Mewtwo's eyes widened, and using his psychic power, a small white and purple stone came out of the palm of his hand, floating. "Someone told me that if we encountered a foe like this, I should use it, right?" Mewtwo understood what Sora was getting at, and using the might of his own telekinesis to try removing the guardian from Sora's body. Managing to get enough freedom, Sora gently tapped the stone inside of the glove with his fingers.

A colorful glow surrounded Mewtwo's body, changing his shape drastically. He now appeared a bit lighter, losing his tail while gaining a long appendage on his head instead. His eyes became larger, and were now a red color, his fingers and toes now having purple bulbs on them. The transformation was mildly grotesque, given his previous form, but Sora knew that it was the fault of the gene splicing that made him in such a way. With an increase in his psychic abilities, Mewtwo dived right back into battle.

First, Mewtwo completely removed the guardian from Sora's body. It tried to escape back to Ansem, but Mewtwo's telekinetic force was nearly crushing it. Luigi and Toad were trying to attack Ansem, but flung themselves stopped by a forcefield until the guardian returned. Meanwhile, Shinki leaned over to Sora. "How about we make a plan here?" She whispered to him.

"What are we going to do?"

"I know I cannot win this with sole power, you said so yourself. The key here is mainly yourself and that creature. It has psychic abilities of some sort, doesn't it?" Shinki then started to smile. "Allow me to take to the skies, and rain hell upon him until the moment is right. When he not able to defend himself because of that creature pulling his guardian away, while you and your allies face him from the front…"

"He'll be open from the back?"  
"What are you all muttering about back there?" Ansem asked, knocking back Luigi and Toad.

Quickly, Sora made the plan known to Mewtwo, who only had to glance at his spoken mind to understand what would take place. Mewtwo started aiming for the guardian, launching multiple Shadow Balls as a distraction, before using telekinesis to pull it away. Ansem was furious, not understanding how this monster was pulling his Heartless away with its force, making him want to take Mewtwo out sooner.

The Guardian slashed at Mewtwo, then tried to take control of him like what had happened to Sora. Mewtwo winced, his power was great but the guardian was taking advantage of his savage heart made for fighting. "A creation, made only to be used as a weapon," Ansem laughed, "even now, the boy there is only using you as a tool so I can be defeated."

No, that wasn't true, and Mewtwo knew it. He was angry at Ansem, but wasn't going to let himself be consumed by such a thing. He had to believe in his allies, something in the back of his mind was telling him, that's what someone would have wanted. Mewtwo continued to use his psychic power in order to hold the guardian back, but the guardian just kept draining him of his stamina.

Eventually, he broke free, but the guardian began throwing disks again in retaliation since Mewtwo wasn't going to allow it to retreat. Ansem had an energy shield around himself, and fearing the worst, Sora took out the Master Ball that Professor Oak had given him. From afar, Luigi tried to cast fireballs on the guardian to shift its attention, and it proved to be successful, as it turned around.

Mewtwo took the chance and teleported out of sight. Ansem could not understand the reason and was prepared to call back his guardian until he was attacked by a shower of projectiles. "What in—!?" He cursed under his breath, unable to put up another shield in time. The most that could be done was to let the guardian protect him, but now Sora and the rest were facing him.

To make matters worse, his control over the guardian seized. It had weakened so much, that it was now being held back by the psychic force with no issue. Sora and Toad leaped at Ansem, who now was forced to bring his attention to them instead. The showering of curtain-fire stopped, but Ansem had not noticed, due to Luigi casting ice magic from afar. Only when all of them backed out, did Ansem realize what he was in for.

He had wondered where the demon god had gone for a split second, and the answer he got was the quad-lasers striking him from above. Sora and friends ran back, watching the Devil's Great Magic take a toll on Ansem. In his fury, the guardian disappeared, and Ansem began to float away, looking up at the sky, glaring at Shinki.

"What's wrong? Can't face the Infinite Being?"  
"You are no Infinite Being, that is a title more worthy of myself!"

Shinki pursued him as Ansem tried to flee to another part of the island, an earthquake held back Sora, Luigi, and Toad, but Mewtwo levitated himself in order to also join the pursuit. "No! Mewtwo, Shinki!" Sora called out, clutching the Master Ball. A fissure was created, a dark gap forming from it.

That's when the unthinkable happened. The large Heartless from before, the one Sora had seen on Destiny Islands just before he had been separated from his friends. Shinki's six wings glowed in the darkness, just like what Sora had dreamed, as the Heartless grabbed onto her, and slammed her into the earth. Mewtwo was stunned, he hadn't seen that coming, even with his psychic abilities. It got worse when the Heartless grabbed onto him also, throwing him back to Sora.

"It can't be," Sora whimpered.  
"What is it!?" Luigi stammered.  
"That Heartless, I've fought it before!"

Feeling a personal grudge, Sora stopped for a moment, looking at Mewtwo first. Finally showing him the Master Ball, Mewtwo winced. "What are you doing? I have told you before, I dislike the idea of being entrapped in those." His Mega Form began to fade, turning back into regular Mewtwo.

"I know," Sora said, "but this isn't to trap you, or keep you from using your power. It's to keep you safe, I don't want you hurting yourself out there. If I don't do this… something worse could happen to you!"

Mewtwo began to close his eyes. "Had I still been conflicted, I would have kept going until the bitter end, I will admit that." He wasn't able to get up either, Toad couldn't even heal him, indicating his critical conditions. "But I had been told to love being alive, and enjoy it. I will never forget those words. Sora, to be willing to protect a savage creature such as myself not once, but twice, and not use me as just a tool of power," Mewtwo slowly opened one of his eyes back up. "What does it mean?"

"It means that you're my friend, even if we've known each other for a short time." Sora held the Master Ball over him, waiting for his permission. "You don't realize just how many are probably in your heart, not just the one person from a long time ago! So please, for the sake of all of those who you share your heart and mind with, let me save you."

Understanding finally, Mewtwo began to… smile?

"Everyone thinks Pokémon and humans were made to fight together, to win, to be powerful, that is why I was made," Mewtwo said. "But in reality, it is about the bonds formed with Pokémon between humans, is it not? I had heard this many times, but I had never believed it, until now. The strongest Pokémon and humans, are the ones who have the most unbreakable bonds. As such… I trust you, as a friend, to keep me safe, and I will protect you."

With that, Sora opened the Master Ball, successfully capturing Mewtwo in it.

That was all the Pokémon, Mewtwo was the last one needed, but… rather than feeling like a task, Sora saw now, that he was saving Pokémon, protecting them. Some of them in exchange had aided him in fights. They all trusted him.

Sora put away the Master Ball, then jumped into the fissure. Luigi and Toad attempted to follow, but it was no use, they were blocked off by a barrier.

On the ground laid Shinki, unconscious. The demon god was finally outdone by Ansem's power.

(Chapter end)


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 15  
The World of Chaos

"What a foolish woman, appearing in your dreams to prepare you for the future." Ansem chuckled. "A demon god like her is fearsome and powerful, but she could not warn you about the true darkness that lied ahead. Instead, she just guided you in hopes that her world would be brought back. Infinite Being, how pitiful."

"No!" Sora objected. "You're the pitiful one! I may have been afraid of her once, but she helped me realize that there was nothing to fear!"

"It's almost as if she was waiting for a knight to come save her land," Ansem mocked.

"Then if I'm a knight, you're an evil wizard!"  
"Then prepare to face my dragon!"

Ansem laughed at his joke was the Darkside reminded Sora of its presence. Ansem went to the side, wanting a good view of the show. Sora glared at the giant Heartless. He was able to beat it before, and he only got more powerful. And he was going to prove it. The Darkside's moves were a little predictable, once again putting his hand in the ground to unleash dark energies and lesser Heartless. They were easily disposed of with a few swings of the Keyblade, the blows able to strike all the way to the hand, which the Darkside held in pain. Lowering its head to protect its hand, it became an easy target for Sora, who finished it in one blow.

As the Darkside faded, Sora turned to Ansem, pointing the Keyblade right at him. Ansem, clearly annoyed, charged in a rage, sending his guardian first as a shield/ram. Sora easily blocked it, and guided the attack so it wouldn't hit Shinki. Ansem worked on regaining his calm, as he made his attacks more coordinated and precise. Sending his guardian to attack from below severed to keep Sora on his toes, and to keep an eye on Shinki so she didn't get hit by the constant uppercuts. Ansem took note of this and started to aim more attacks at Shinki, only for Sora to block them, though he suffered some damage in the process.

Knowing that the situation had to change, he picked up Shinki, and made his way to the side of the barrier, hoping it was like the one in Hollow Bastion. Seeing Toad and Luigi outside, he tossed her to them. Thankfully, she went through the barrier, and into their arms. Now that he could now only focus on offense, he went all out, landing hit after hit on Ansem. Ansem put up his best guard and attack but it wasn't enough. Landing one final blow, Sora brought Ansem down to the ground, but it wasn't over.

The Barrier down, Toad and Luigi regrouped with Sora, only for the three of them to be enveloped by a sudden black fog. Trying to make sense of their surroundings, they only thing they could make out was Ansem's voice.

"Behold the endless abyss! Within lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!" A door appeared in the distance, mounted on a small rock. "Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours. Darkness conquers all worlds!"

At those final words, Sora gasped as he saw Ansem, now part of a Heartless ship that looked liked it came from the deepest pits of pure insanity. A grotesque face was at the front, and a larger version of Ansem's guardian was at the top, with Ansem at the center, connected to the abomination with tendrils protruding from his back. Then the three of them suddenly lost their footing, falling down. A multicolored mist appeared on the ship, claiming Toad and Luigi. Sora fell past it, going into the abyss. As he fell, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Giving up already? Come on Sora, I thought you were stronger than that."

Hearing Riku's voice gave Sora hope, as well as a second wind. Feelings that were understood by the Pokemon leaving the Master Ball.

"Mewtwo!"  
"Hold on!"

Using his telekinesis, Mewtwo levitated the two of them in front of the ship, looking better.

"How?"  
"While in the Master Ball, I had time to use Recover. I am not completely healed, but I can still fight."  
"Don't forget about me!"

Sora was surprised to see Shinki flying towards them. "I wake up to see no one around, and then all this darkness! I thought you abandoned me! And after all I did!"

Sora smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not abandoning anybody. Although, I could use your help in doing that. Can you two keep him busy while I free the others?"

"Consider it done."  
"Of course!"

Mewtwo and Shinki went straight for Ansem, as Sora went to attack the ship. Heading straight for the face at the front, Sora did not hesitate to land blow after blow. Surprisingly, there was little resistance to his attack. Whether this was due to the ship unable to defend itself, or Ansem too busy fighting the others, Sora did not wait to think about it. All that mattered was freeing his friends.

But that did not mean his attacks were not helpful. When Mewtwo and Shinki flew to Ansem, they already saw signs of pain on his face. "Maybe because of his condition, he feels what the ship feels?"

Mewtwo smiled as he readied a Shadow Ball. "Then let this be a two-pronged attack!" Landing the Balls right in Ansem's midsection, Mewtwo noticed that there was little effect. Shinki started firing lasers in annoyance.

"But that was able to work before! Is he cheating?"

"No. He is just a bit stronger. But everything has a weakness, even this dark being. Wait, dark…." Concentrating, Mewtwo prepared a new energy ball, glowing blue, and launched it at Ansem. This time, it landed some significant damage.

"How….?" Mewtwo took some amusement at Shinki's dumbfounded face.

"His very existence is similar to that of a Dark-Type, which are vulnerable to Fighting-Types moves like Aura Sphere!" Continuing his attacks, he worked on lowering Ansem's stamina, as Shinki helped by confusing Ansem with her lasers.

The attacks were helping Sora a lot, as it seemed the effects on the ship from the attacks on Ansem were greater than the reverse. Sora floated higher and higher, hitting the ship as he went. He headed towards the domed area where Toad and Luigi disappeared. There was originally a barrier, but it was weakened considerably thanks to his allies. Landing a few more blows, he broke his way through and landed at the structure where they were last seen. He wasted no time in wailing a flurry of hits on it, making it wobble more than jello. Wobbling that turned into quivering as the structure released the strange colored mist that claimed Toad and Luigi. Sora looked with hope that was rewarded as his friends fell out of the mist, intact and conscious. "Am I glad to see you!"

"Are we…...somewhere this time? Where we were…..there thing…...nothing…...but darkness."

Sora helped Toad up. "Don't worry. You're somewhere now. And there's plenty of butt to kick." Toad smiled a bit at that, even Luigi, who was just glad to see a familiar face. But knowing that there was still a job to do, they quickly went to outside the dome and prepared to climb up.

Reaching the top, they saw Ansem giving his full attention to the two annoyances doing him harm. Mewtwo was keeping his distance, but Shinki got a little cocky and flew in close to deal more effective laser blasts. Ansem took full advantage and lunged forward, missing by inches as Shinki quickly leaned back. Sora, seeing this, got an idea from watching Ansem's movements. "Guys, I need you to grab his limbs and pull with all your might! If you do that, I can separate him from this ship!"

Knowing that they didn't have any time to discuss other options, they nodded and lept up, each grabbing an arm and a leg. Ansem was startled for a moment at the sudden grabbing, but was greatly amused. "And what is this supposed to do? You just made yourself easier - uh!"

An Aura Sphere to the face quickly shut him up and put a smirk on Mewtwo's face. "It makes you an easier target." He didn't let up

An Aura Sphere to the face quickly shut him up and put a smirk on Mewtwo's face. "It makes you an easier target." He didn't let up, continuing his attacks and leaving Ansem in a daze.

Shinki was about to join in when she heard Sora calling her. "I need a speed boost for this attack! I need your help!" Smiling, Shinki picked up Sora and gained some altitude.

"Okay, where?"

"There." Looking at where Sora was pointing, Shinki smiled some more.

"Oh, I see. Good call." Diving down, she increased their speed as she made a beeline straight for Ansem.

"NOW!" Letting go, Shinki immediately stopped as Sora continue to zip towards Ansem, or more specifically, right behind him. And in one swing of his Keyblade, aided by the speed, Sora cut straight through the tendrils binding Ansem to the Ship. Ansem started to contort in pain as the Ship vanished, making the three heroes lose their footing. Mewtwo quickly grabbed them with his telekinesis, with Shinki regrouping with them. Seconds later, Ansem, visibly weakened, floated just in front of the door, reverted back to his original outfit.

"It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." Ansem turned to the door. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness!" The door slowly opened, wisps of darkness leaking out. "Supreme darkness…."

"You're wrong. I know now. Kingdom Hearts, is light!" At Sora's words, the darkness disappeared at the presence of a bright light emitting from the door. It hit Ansem head-on, bathing him in light.

"Light…...but…...why…..?" And with that, Ansem vanished, destroyed by the light he defied. When the light faded, Sora and the others rushed towards to the door and started to close it.

Luigi poked his head around it and gasped. "Less staring and more pushing!" Toad looked to see at what Luigi saw and started gawking as well. "The Heartless! Hurry!"

"I can't…." Sora was struggling with the door, when a familiar hand grabbed it.

"Don't give up!" Riku appeared from behind the door. "We'll do it together!" Nodding, Sora pushed as Riku pulled, slowly moving the door. But it seemed to be futile was several Darkside appeared behind Riku.

"It's hopeless!" Just as soon as Toad said that, the Darkside suddenly vanished, revealing a silhouette that Luigi and Toad recognized instantly.

"Mario!"

"Sora, let's-a close this door for good!" Mario pulled out a Keyblade of his own.  
"But….."  
"Don't-a worry, there will always be a door to the light."  
"Sora, you can-a trust my-a brother."  
"Hurry. They're coming!"  
"Luigi, Toad," Mario said one last time, "thank you."

With one final heave, they closed the door, Riku saying one last thing before it shut. "Take care of her."

Sora nodded once more, before jumping back while readying the Keyblade. Holding it up, it shone with a great light. Unknown to him, Mario's did the same, the two working together to seal the door, making it vanish completely. The place started to shake, as a great light formed in the distance. "The worlds are reforming! Our homes are saved!" Shinki was flying around in joy as Mewtwo looked around in concern.

"How will we get home if we are here?"

"I can sense my world," Shinki explained, "and yours too! If we get to the fragments before they leave this place, we'll go along with the ride."

"Then we have no time to spare."  
"Mewtwo, wait!"

Sora reached into his pocket and tossed the Pokeballs inside to Mewtwo. "They should go with you."

Mewtwo smiled as he took them. "As you need to get to her, thank you, Sora." As he flew off with Shinki, Sora turned to see Kairi standing in the distance, on the familiar sands of the Destiny Islands, Toad and Luigi gave a slightly sad look as the two seemingly started to reunite.

"Kairi!"  
"Sora!"  
The ground shook beneath them, making Kairi stumble. Sora grabbed her to steady her.  
"Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too! I'll come back to you, I promise!"  
"I know you will!"

The ground separated, forcing them to let go, the distance between them increasing. As the two faded from each other's sight, thousands of sparkles of light came down, illuminating the dark sky. Kairi looked around to see the Destiny Islands reforming. And as Sora finally disappeared, in his place hundreds of stars shot up into the sky, filling up the places from where they vanished.

Her home fully restored, Kairi went to the secret place looking at the cravings left by her friends, pausing when she saw the one of her and Sora. Seeing the addition of a paopu fruit offered to her make her giggle as she shed a tear. She left, but not before leaving a behind a paopu fruit for Sora. Stepping out into the sun, she looked up to sky, starting to wait for when she would be reunited with her friends.

_

Traverse Town

"Okay, let's go. We ain't got all day!" Fox and Ratchet were doing major upgrades to their spaceships, Gummi Ships, and teleporters to get all of the misplaced heroes home. Dr. Light was overjoyed to see Roll again, as Team Blue was saying their goodbyes.

"It was fun." Mega Man said with a hint of sorrow in his voice  
"Will we ever see each other again?" Sparkster asked.  
"Not sure. We could always wait for another catastrophe." Shovel Knight said.  
"How about we play it by ear?"

"Sounds good to me, but until then," Arle then took out several, small little charms, which were shaped like spheres. "Let's split these for now! It'll be so we never forget each other, no matter how far apart we are!"

The five of them all smiled and laughed, Shield Knight also enjoying the sight of the bonding.

Ash and Professor Oak were loading up all their equipment when they got a surprise communication from their world. They turned on the monitor to see Mewtwo greeting them, holding the final Pokeballs and the Keystone.

"I will be leaving these here."  
"What about Sora?"  
"He is not gone. But I do not know if we will see him again."

He cut off the transmission as the two of them stood there, not knowing what will become of their friend.

—

Dream Land

With peace restored, Kirby and King Dedede came to a truce, and began relaxing. Everything was back to normal for now, as the both of them fell asleep, having sweet dreams.

Meta-Knight stood there, pondering what had happened to Sora. Wherever Sora was, Meta-Knight would continue to believe in him, and so would the dreaming Kirby.

—

Haven City

"Keira, there you are! Where have you been!?" Daxter asked.

"It's a really long story. I saw Sora before coming back here though," Keira explained, deciding to spare them the details of being captured.

"Shoot, really?" Jak seemed disappointed. "I wanted to say thanks one last time, but I guess I lost my chance."

"I wouldn't say that," Keira replied, "I'm sure out there, he knows you're thankful, Jak."

—

Hyrule

As Zelda played the Ocarina of Time, she gave a sorrowful look as Link and Navi began to fade away in a blue light.

"I had… to send Link back to his own timeline, where he belongs. But even without him or Sora, I know Hyrule will be protected by light." She nodded. "I pray that this was a not a mistake, for light will surely protect Hyrule if Ganon were to come again."

—

Aperture Science Lab

With GLaDOS brought back somehow, but inactive, that put Wheatley in charge of a different set of test chambers for a while. "Oh man, I just, I can't wait to get to testing! Y'know, I just wish that I had company here that won't respond to me with just a nod." He sighed, wishing that Sora had stayed for future, non-violent testing.

—

Galaxy, Year 2531

To be helped by a young boy of all things, it felt weird to Master Chief, even now.

"Are you alright?" Cortana asked.  
"Yeah, I am, I'm just still thinking—"  
"About your friends?"

"They were young and inexperienced, so I thought," Master Chief admitted, "but if not for them, I wouldn't have gotten out. I just can't help but wonder how things are holding up now."

—

Oddworld

It seemed that Abe's ties with destiny had only just begun, as after the daring rescues, he was already venturing off with other Mudokons. "After the celebration, I slipped and fell off the stage, that was when a voice came to me. The Glukkons are digging up the bones of Mudokons at Necrum!"

He was much more confident than last time, leading a group of fellow Mudokons across a wasteland, in order to find out what exactly was going on.

To think, his fate would have been cut short if not for Sora.

_

Paris

"Hopefully with Clockwerk defeated, we won't have to see his mug ever again," Sly commented. "It would be crazy if someone took his parts from that volcano."

"Uh, don't look now, Sly!" Bentley warned him.

Suddenly, pointing a shock pistol at him, was Carmelita. "Inspector Fox!" Sly said cheerfully. "You're alright!"

"Be sure to thank Sora for that, after I put you behind bars!"  
"Not gonna give me a ten-second head start?"

—

Minecraft World

As Steve looked up at the stars at night, he would make sure that he would never forget how Sora had helped him. Things were going to be much different without him, but Steve knew that his friends would be with him in some form.

Wait, what was that hissing sound?

—

Outworld

"You are leaving?" Scorpion was following Kratos, who was leaving the arena.  
"Now that my world has been restored, there are still things that I must do."  
"You are returning to revenge?"  
"No. But there are those whose darkness will bring nothing but destruction, and I must stop them."  
"Then I wish you well, friend."  
"And I, you."

_

Hollow Bastion

"All right, we got something!"

Cloud was overlooking the reclaiming of Hollow Bastion. He walked in on Tails, who was finally able to make some progress in repairing Clap-Trap. "Are you sure? Because I can't hear anything."

"I disabled his vocal processor for until I'm done."  
"Good thinking."

Clap-Trap could only flail his arms in protest to that, as Amy and Cream collectively giggled, and Snake shook his head. Raiden and Yoshimitsu were having a conversation, while Knuckles glanced over to Sonic and Blaze.

"So," Knuckles started, "how long before we gotta get going?"

"Eh, I just want it to last a little bit longer," Sonic replied, looking at the charm in his hand. "By the way, whatever happened to Eggman?"

"I don't know," Blaze replied, "I hadn't seen him since he dropped me off here. Maybe he'll be back in our world."

—

Makai

"So, Sora didn't join me after all." Shinki flew around, making sure everything had returned.

"The mortal boy, you're fond of him?" Yumeko, the maid asked her, sword at her side as always.

"Perhaps. And in that case, it doesn't mean I'm giving up! And I definitely won't lose to Kairi!" Her laughter could be heard for several blocks, and as Yumeko sighed, Alice Margatroid flew by to warn the maid.

"Hey!" Shinki turned her attention to Reimu and Marisa, two very sudden arrivals. "What did I tell you about sending those demons on a tour? You can't just send them all to my shrine! You said you would put an end to it!"

"You're back here?" Shinki pondered, recalling how well Makai was connected to Gensokyo. "Apologies, I've been distracted lately." Shinki chuckled.

_

FS-176

Samus leaned back in her ship and sighed, knowing she had to get back to her initial task at hand, which was destroying Mother Brain on planet Zebes. She had no idea how she had gotten pulled away from it in the first place, but…

It was a nice break actually. Space pirates got really tiresome after a while, and those Heartless creatures were much easier in comparison. But still, somebody had to take care of the space pirates.

—

Sera

Not dealing with the Locust for a while…

Marcus didn't expect it, and while he was paranoid at first, in hindsight, he welcomed the change. Those kids were tougher than they looked, and he hoped they wouldn't have to deal with what he did on a normal basis.

On that note, Marcus Fenix also hoped that Link and Zelda were alright after all that happened.

—

London

Tracer's return to the Overwatch team was welcome, and she got to see Emily again after what felt almost like an eternity. Once she got back into work, Tracer could only think…

A talent like Sora's, it belonged on the Overwatch team. Maybe one day, if he grew up and showed his face again, Tracer could ask if he was interested. Of course, this sort of thing would be rather inappropriate, to ask an outsider.

Oh well, Sora had a good heart.

—

20XX

Looking at the bead-like charm, Mega Man sighed, still thinking about the friends he made in Team Blue. He wouldn't forget how Arle nearly sacrificed herself, just so Mega Man could protect Roll.

"Rock? What's wrong? You keep moping over that charm your friends gave you!" Roll pointed out.

"Huh? Well, I mean, it's been so quiet lately. Nothing from Dr. Wily or anything, everything is peaceful." He smiled. "Which isn't a bad thing, but I feel really weird."

"Rock, don't tell me you had a crush on that one girl with the pet and now you miss her!"  
"Wha— No! Where did that come from!?" Mega Man stammered.

Dr. Light chuckled to himself as the brother and sister continued teasing each other, while Rush appeared confused.

—

LittleBigPlanet

Calmness and fun is what Sackboy had returned to, and he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Excitedly, he ran past the environments, before halting. He decided that he would make a nice little memoriam for his friends. Taking out the Popit menu, Sackboy began making creations of all the friends he had made, so he would never forget them!

Sora, Toad, Luigi, Snake, Rosalina, Ash, Pikachu, Samus, Marcus, Tracer, Mega Man, Shovel Knight, Earthworm Jim, Arle, Carbuncle…

Oh, that's right, Sackboy now wondered how Sparkster was doing! He nearly forgot about him.

—

Elhorn

Looking at the charm in his hands, Sparkster attached it to his blade, keeping it close at all times. The friends he had made on that strange journey, were ones that he wouldn't forget. As he flew past the Kingdom of Zephyrus, he hoped that with the bonds he had made, he would be able to protect Zephyrus from evil more than before.

No, he didn't have to hope. He believed he would, for Sparkster knew that his friends, no matter how far they were, would support him.

—

Plains of Passage

"The allies we had made on that journey, were ones we shall never forget!" Shovel Knight declared, having the charm attached to his shovel.

"I hope all of those girls are alright too, they didn't deserve to be mixed up in all of that. But now, it seems like this world can relish in tranquility once more." The moment Shield Knight had said that, Shovel Knight was suddenly hit with an explosion.

"What in the—!"

"Hee! Pardon me!" Jumping over Shovel Knight, was a warrior dressed like a plague doctor, who ran past him after bouncing off of the explosion.

"Why, that scoundrel Plague Knight, ambushing me even now? Get back here! This is not a time or place for causing trouble!" As Shovel Knight tailed after him, Shield Knight sighed. Perhaps things weren't changing so soon after all.

_

New Junk City

"Man, I'm just about tired of fighting all of these bad guys, I'm in definite need of a vacation." Looking through some kind of magazine, Earthworm Jim then felt a little guilty. "Geez, I complain so much about this, yet Sora is still out there, working hard, maybe I should—"

That was when Jim's eyes laid on something that caught his interest. "Jet trip to the Clayhamas? Hey, that sounds pretty good to me! What could go wrong?"

—

Madou World

As Arle Nadja walked along the dirt path with Carbuncle hanging on her shoulder, the charm attached to her wristband, she heard the sound of someone appearing behind you. "Arle! I have come for you!"

She turned around swiftly, coming face-to-face with a white-haired man who was wielding a sword. Normally, Arle would give him some kind of snarky remark or fight him, but for a change, she just smiled at him. "My power you mean, right? Y'know, after so long, it's actually good to hear your usual shenanigans again, Schezo."

Maybe one day, Arle would meet her newfound friends again.

—

Mushroom Kingdom

It was unexpected to get a visitor like Rosalina of all people, but as she was welcomed regardless. As she came in, she told Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Toadsworth about what had happened. Toadsworth, knowing that it was best to inform Toad's best friend; Toadette, left the room, leaving Rosalina with just Peach and Daisy.

"So, Mario isn't coming back as soon as hoped," Peach sighed.  
"Luigi and Toad too, huh?" Daisy murmured.

"Right now, Luigi, Toad, and their new friend are still on the mission to find Mario. They are all in good hands, I assure you. If you're worried about the Mushroom Kingdom being attacked by Bowser, then I will be glad to help you until they all return." Rosalina said, as a Luma carefully passed her a cup of tea.

"We're not really worried about Bowser, I mean, even if he did show up, I could pummel him," Daisy remarked.

"Even then, he hasn't shown himself in a long while," this statement surprised Rosalina. "We don't know where he went, but he hasn't been around."

"Do the Koopalings know where he went?" Rosalina asked, finding this peculiar.

"Well, we got a troublesome visit from them and Jr. once, but they were quickly chased off." Peach explained. "When Daisy asked where Bowser was, they simply said that he was meeting with someone named Dracula."

That last word made Rosalina nearly drop her cup of tea.

It seemed like it wasn't over after all… no, rather, this was the beginning.

—

Credits

Games that inspired levels/worlds:  
Kirby's Adventure  
Jak II: Renegade  
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time  
Portal  
Halo: Combat Evolved  
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee  
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus  
Minecraft  
Mortal Kombat (2011)  
Touhou Kaikidan ~ Mystic Square

Original Kingdom Hearts game by Square  
Idea by Thedudeabies  
Writing and editing by HeWhoImagines and NKirby

"This was an unexpected project that I actually really enjoyed writing! I am actually not familiar with Kingdom Hearts at all, unlike HeWhoImagines and Thedudeabies. I ended up becoming a fan through the exposure however, and I ended up having so much fun writing some of the sections: particularly Sly Cooper, the Hollow Bastion, and Shinki battle were my favorit things to have written here

I hope the other two enjoyed this as much as I did!" - NKirby

_

Elsewhere…

Sora, Toad, and Luigi were walking down a path in a field.

"Now what do we do?"  
"We gotta find Riku and Mario."  
"But, where do we start-a looking for the door to-a light?"

Realizing that they had no idea where to start, they three of them hung their heads low. Sora perked up when he heard a sudden rustling in the grass. "Yoshi! What are you doing here?" Toad wondered. The green dinosaur turned to the trio, holding an envelope. "Hey, that's Mario's seal!"

"Yoshi, have you seen Mario?" Sora asked, but Yoshi just turned and ran off along the path, prompting the others to chase him.

They did nothing but laugh as they heading to the next step of finding their friends, and defending the light wherever it needs it.

THE END

 **AN: well this is the end of Gaming Hearts for those you have been reading this I just want to thank you you stiking around for the whole ride. I would also like to thanks NK and Hewhoimagines for wrighting this you guy are awsome and I can't thank you enoth for helping me bring my dream to life. also were not sure if we will do Gaming Hearts 2 I would love to do it but who know only time will tell and don't forget to Fallow, Fav and Review if you liked this story pease out yall.**


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